


Blue Christmas

by Mipiou, Shippershipship



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Advent Calendar, Christmas, Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff, Gavin Reed Swears, M/M, Post-Canon, Swearing, reed900
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-01
Updated: 2018-12-18
Packaged: 2019-09-05 08:19:31
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 18
Words: 32,006
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16806934
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mipiou/pseuds/Mipiou, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shippershipship/pseuds/Shippershipship
Summary: It´s one year after the android revolution and christmas eve is coming nearer. While humans prepare for the "most wonderful time of the year" it´s the first time for androids to peacefully celebrate their very own christmas. But it can be hard for machines to get into this so called christmas spirit when nobody is there to explain them things. Luckily for Connor, Hank is there to lead him and luckily for Gavin, Nines is there to help him search for his own version of christmas.A storyline split into two main stories of Hank and Connor and Gavin and Nines as well as small inputs of Kara and Markus.





	1. 1st december

**Author's Note:**

> For christmas a friend of mine and I decided to write a small advent calendar out of 24 short chapters. While I am a hopeless Reed900 shipper she lives up to Hankcon so we will take turns :3 Every even date will be Reed900 time and every uneven day it´s Hankcon. We also decided to do a small Kara input every sunday. To not neglect our robo-jesus Markus get´s his chapter on St Nicholas' Day.  
> We really hope you´ll enjoy reading this, have fun :)

_**Searching for a punchline** _

Gavin Reed grunted when he fell back into his chair. One whole fucking hour just to get to work because not a single ass out there would be willing to go outside at these temperatures, causing the busses to be way too crowded and the streets overfilled.  


Gavin didn´t have the motivation for work at all, but of course Fowler had to keep it up. It didn´t matter how fucking cold it was and how other people started their december with holidays, he wouldn´t be spared. Well at least he wasn´t the only tormented soul. A few desks away Tina, another police officer, had smacked her head on the table when she arrived and not gotten up since. A look behind him revealed that Noah, one of his ex-partners, was checking something on his screen but Gavin was pretty sure it wasn´t relevant to any case. Fucking stoner always looked up weird shit.  


A glance to the right showed Hanks empty desk in the office next to his. Connor (the android sent by Cyberlife) sat there, waiting. Goddamn Anderson should finally deal with this lost puppy for once.  


Their eyes met for a second before the detective broke the gaze. He remembered the first time he met this plastic prick. The androids serious look and his way too perfect attitude. He had felt like gagging back then just like he was now. One year ago the revolution had taken place and since then apparently he had been mostly living at Hanks. Goddamn perfectionist. Well at least he was trying to fit in in contrast to another pain in the ass.  


“Detective Reed”. The icy voice made him jump out of surprise. “I´ve brought you something”. Gavin felt his usual self boiling up again. Oh how often had he wanted to kick this goddamn stick between the legs just to get a reaction out of him. Well, it never worked out anyway, so the human clawed his chair and turned around to look up. 

RK900, another one of Cyberlifes `prototypes` and his new assigned partner towered over the rather small detective. Ok, maybe new wasn´t the right term, they had been working together for almost 8 months now after all.  


And yes, maybe there had been a few times when he got stuck with a case and `Nines` as the piece of plastic was referred to, was able to help him but sometimes he got the feeling of being just the side-dish. Something unnecessary. If this fuckface didn`t need a fucking partner and Gavin neither then why the hell did they have to bear this burden of pissing each other off? Like right now.  


Nines looked very satisfied looking down on him, one eyebrow raised, this smooth smile on his face and eyes lowered.  


“Fucking hell, asshole, what the fuck?!” Gavin glared up, ignoring the cup of coffee the android held out to him. “I fucking told you to stop walking around like there are mines in the ground. You know, just… use your damn heels for once!”  


Nines ignored the curses thrown at him and simply stood there, stiff, quiet and patient.  


After a good minute of Gavin ranting he simply nodded and waited again.  


Another whole minute went by with the two men just staring at each other until one would back down. Of course they could keep it up for 24 hours if they really wanted to, but today Nines broke their little provocation and simply put the cup on their table and took a seat in front of his rude partner.

The detective hated this. A normal human being would give him some kind of reaction. Heck, even Connor started defending himself and especially Hank, but his fucking twin?! Nothing.  


“Having a rough day, prick? Ever thought about maybe taking a day off? Or maybe a year? Or 70 years so that I don´t have to see you anymore?”  


“Even if I took a day off I would still accompany you. To make sure that you don´t get another file for bad behavior and language. I think Caption Fowler would be thankful”  


“F´cking stalker… and that man should care about his own shit!”.  


He didn´t continue after that, knowing very well that he could get into more serious trouble if he went on. So he grabbed the cup from the table only to almost drop it again because of the burning heat.  
“-RGHFCKNGSHII-!“.  


He rubbed his lightly reddish palm against his leg. “Do you wanna kill me or something?! Asshole!”. He felt the urge to draw his gun but…  


With a sigh he faced the screen in front of him and opened some folders. Geez he really didn´t feel up to anything right now. Nines had already gotten back to work and Gavin would be lying if he said that he didn´t like the androids calm nature.

His ignorant and proud side was nasty but at least he wasn´t one of those hyperactive monkeys Fowler tried to match him with. Nines at least didn´t try to report him on a daily basis (as far as Gavin knew anyway). Plus they had even started some kind of morning routine.  


Usually RK900 arrived right on time and the detective either too early or also punctual. The greeting was mostly one-sided and short, then Gavin would be served a cup of coffee and they both tried to work as good as possible.  
Admittedly he had to apprechiate the androids habit to make him a cup of coffee every day. It was still a mystery to him why the fuck his partner did that.  


It may have started the day the detective tried to play the same trick on RK900 as his ancestor. He asked for cup of coffee. Ignored. Then he had cursed him. No reaction. He´d tried to hit him in the guts. Nothing. Well, he had tried to punch his counterpart but it ended with him being pinned to the wall. One of his worst days of his career for sure.  


But by now there was a hot cup of caffeine on his desk everyday. And god knew he needed it.  


So he gladly took a sip out of his drink.  


And almost spit it out again.  


First of all why the fuck did this coffee taste so sweet?  


Second of all why the fuck did this toaster pour punch into his cup?  


Third of all why the fuck?  


Fourth of all WHY THE FUCK WAS THIS BASTARD SMILING AGAIN?!  


Fifth of all shit this tasted actually rather good.  


Gavin Reed, 36 years old swallowed the punch his partner had served him hard. Then he sent death glare and hissed: “What the fuck are you trying to poison me with?! I wanted some coffee, dipshit, the bitter taste of your presence, not this sweet fruit tea. There isn´t even alcohol in there!! Didn´t they teach you in android school how to do it right?”  


Nines folded his hands and his LED spinned yellow. “I have noticed that you did in fact enjoy the punch, detective Reed even though it seems hard for you to admit it. But I appreciate the gesture. Your taste for sweet things is very distinctive”.  


His smile still seemed kind of unreal to Gavin.  


“But like… why…?!”  


Nines laid his head on the side and blinked in a confused yet serious manner. “It´s the first of december, detective. I thought you may need a small shove to get into the spirit of Christmas”.  


Gavin couldn´t believe his ears as his partner winked at him, rather cool and formal but the irony was clearly audible.  


They stared at each other again before the detective shook his head and cackled slightly embarrassed , not sure what to say. So he just muttered the usual “F´cking android plastic prick” and shuffled through the papers on his desk. Time to dig through some assholes´lifes again. At least the punch tasted good. Goddamn perfectionist.  


_**May I ask you a personal question?** _

Hank opened the door, escaping the cold air the winter in Detroit offered to the people. He threw his keys on the kitchen table, freeing his hands in favor of petting Sumo’s head, who was happily greeting his master.  


Connor trailed into the house behind Hank, closing the door carefully and crouching down to hug the fluffy St. Bernard that was already happily ignoring his owner and trying to climb into the android’s lap.  


The man chuckled slightly, deciding to sit down on his favorite seat in the house: the couch.  


After watching Connor and Sumo play for a few minutes he decided to switch on the TV, where some old crime thriller was playing, back from the days he had been young. A part of him wanted to go and get himself a beer, but he knew better than to actually do it.  
He hadn’t stopped drinking, not wanting to completely miss out on his evening beers, but he had started to cut down on the hard stuff. It was mostly for Connors sake he told himself, but he had to admit that his health had improved since then. And now, one year after Connor moving in (involuntarily at first but he grew to like the added company, even if he wouldn’t openly admit it) he didn’t wake up with a splitting headache most of the time anymore.  


While he had been lost in thought, Sumo had walked over to lay his head on his legs, drooling onto his pants and glancing up at him with wide demanding eyes.  


“Yeah yeah, Sumo. I’m fine. You’re a good dog.” Hank muttered, scratching the back of the dog’s ears.  


Connor flopped down on the couch beside him, patting Sumo’s back. Sumo deemed his human well enough for now and gave Hanks hand a quick lick before trotting over to his doggie bed.  


Connor and Hank watched the screen in silence, but Hank noticed pretty quickly that something was up with Connor. The android was trying to hide it, but his LED occasionally sparked yellow and the way he was sitting was way to up tight, even for Connors standards.  


He tried to give the android some space and time to come forward himself if he wanted to, settling his gaze back on the TV, but after a few minutes of Connor not moving an inch Hank became antsy. With a sigh he turned to look the android in the face.  


“Alright, what’s going on in that mechanical brain of yours? Did you short circuit or somethin’?” he asked, slight concern audible threw his ironic tone.  


Connors LED switched from spoty to a solid yellow as he turned to face Hank as well.  


“May I ask you a personal question, lieutenant?”  


Hank rolled his eyes at the all too familiar question, but a smile was dancing over his lips.  


“It’s still Hank.” He corrected “And yeah. Go ahead.”  


“Are you going to celebrate Christmas this year?”  


That question caught Hank off guard. He had noticed that December had been growing closer and closer again, but he hadn’t thought to much of it up to this point. But leave it to Connor to be overly observant and connected to the internet 24/7.  


His silence seemed to make the android nervous, causing him to slip one of his hands in his pocket to fiddle with his coin.  


“I understand if you don’t want to answer the question. It was just a thought.” Connor added quickly.  


Hank shook his head, his initial shock fading and revealing a bunch of feelings Hank hadn’t let himself feel in a long time and wasn’t prepared dealing with. He tried to ignore himself and waved off the android while shrugging.  


“I just wasn’t expecting that question.” His mouth felt dry. They were quiet again, the only noise filling the room coming from the TV.  


“It’s a touchy subject. I apologize.” Connor stated finally. His voice had slipped back into his old overly professional tone he only really used at work anymore. Or when he was trying to hide his feelings.  


Hank had hoped something like this wouldn’t happen this soon, or at any time if he was honest.  


He hadn’t really celebrated anything anymore since the accident, to many memories with to many attached feelings resurfacing when he tried. His house had felt way to empty those days and had often found himself running away from the silence that was his home, either going to bars or just straight up drinking until he passed out. He had been relieved last year after he noticed people were to invested in the android revolution to properly get into any celebrating spirit. How stupid of him to assume this year would be the same.  


He glanced back at Connor. The android was sitting stiffly, eyes fixated on the screen, LED swirling a solid yellow. Hank took in a deep breath. He already regretted his next steps. It would be hard for him to not fall into old habits or mess something up. He would destroy Connors first chance to experience a celebration by drinking again. He would be pressured by the deafening silence of his home again. He would think about the old times, a few years ago. About…  


Hank looked to Connor again. The android looked almost sad, stiffly trying to avoid any movement as if afraid it would set up some sort of bomb. A pang of empathetic warmth began to spread in his chest, momentarily silencing his negative thought until he pushed the feeling away as fast as it had come. But it had been enough for him to make up his mind.  


"We can try. To celebrate.” His voice sounded hoarse. Connors head swung around instantly, looking at him with big eyes.  
“Lieu- Hank I- “  


“Shut up before I change my fucking mind.” He interrupted, leaning back heavily into the cushions. He needed a beer. Now for real.  


Connor stared at him for a few more seconds before one of these goofy looking smiles appeared on his face, his LED settling on a happy blue.  


“Thank you, Hank.” He said, leaning back on the couch as well. Hank nodded briefly before going into the kitchen to grab himself a beer. Connor didn’t give him any accusing looks.


	2. A colourful christmas

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finally after a long time Kara, Alice and Luther managed to settle down in Canada. Things have been quite peaceful so far but none of the three androids ever had the chance to celebrate christmas! Time to get to it now!

“Luther!” Alice started jumping up and down excitedly as Kara opened the door. Luther stood outside, a small fir tree on his shoulder. He looked quite satisfied.

“Make room for me, I don´t want to hurt you!” he buzzed and pushed past the entrance.

“Thank you for this, Luther. I already tidied up the living room, there should be enough space by now”. Kara took Alice’s hand and followed the large man.

After crossing the border they had finally reached their destination: Canada. It had been hard for them for a while then – while Luther was searching for a job to provide them some money, Kara and Alice searched for help and reached out to a refugee relief.

By now, one year later, Luther had been able to find a job at a saw mill with a rather good wage. The revolution happened in Detroit but still impacted the whole world. Androids slowly got more rights and weren´t traced anymore.

And since 4 months now they owned their own house in a small town. It had a little bathroom, a kitchen, two bedrooms and a living room. And even though every room wasn´t that big it seemed perfect for the three androids.

To offer Alice a comfortable life, Kara and Luther sent her to a school with other children. Theoretically it was unnecessary, she wouldn´t age too soon either, but it gave her a certain sense of belonging.

Luther went to work and Kara switched from household to a part-time job to spending time with Alice.

This was peace. This was freedom. This was family.

It was the second of december and Luther had raised enough money for them to afford a proper Christmas celebration. None of them had ever experienced such a thing as a pleasant memory but after the events that took place in Detroit they wanted to do this. Apparently Christmas brought the family together, something they didn´t really need but it was still a warm feeling.

The moment Luther put down the tree and ruffled through Alice´s hair was short but loving. He smiled at the little one. “It was the most beautiful tree I could find for the most beautiful girl”.

Alice laughed and hugged the big man happily.

Kara clapped her hands together and asked in a loud voice: “Should we start then?”

Luther stood up from his knees and nodded. “I can get the lights out of the closet if you want” he offered.

“No need to! Alice couldn´t wait for you so we already collected everything”.

Alice looked a bit embarrassed before defending herself: “Kara was the one suggesting it!”

“Only because you wouldn´t stay still” Kara continued the teasing.

With an amused smirk Luther left the two girls baiting each other and found all of the house decoration he and Kara had gathered within the last month.

Two long lighting chains as well as many Christmas baubles with changing images of the winter, some stars and little angels made out of fabric and of course the small wood figures Alice had tinkered. They didn´t spare anything.

So he called out: “So which one of you wants to help me with this tree?”

Immediately he felt Alice jump on his back and squeal loudly “I want to make the brightest Christmas tree in the whole world!!”

Kara put a hand on her shoulder like she had done before so often “Let´s get to it then” and gave Luther a cheerful grin.

After Luther carrying Alice on his back and making it possible for the little girl to reach to the top Kara eventually activated the lights and suddenly it got a lot more colorful and bright in the house. 

The lighting chain was long enough to cover the tree and go even further. It was placed on top of the windows and gave their neighbors insight as well.

There were still some decorations left so the three of them finally went outside as well. Even though the house was small it was quite cozy. Luther, being originally built to carry heavy loads easily lifted Kara onto his shoulders to get on the roof, and then helped her with the chains while Alice embellished the rest of her figures and stars.

Finally everything was finished. Their house shone in green, red, yellow and blue and Kara knew if it would start to snow again, they would need to rearrange things. But seeing Luther hold hands with Alice while looking at their work she knew she wouldn´t mind that.

“I will get Mr. Tiptoe to see this too!” Alice cheered and went inside again to get her little stuffed elephant. She had gotten it on her birthday.

The two grown-ups stood in silence until Kara aspirated: “She has gotten so cheerful…”.

Luther nodded and responded: “Alice is a strong child. Look at her! She never cried once since we crossed the border. Even though there were a lot of times, when she had more than a good reason to do so”.

They watched their child run around the house with Mr. Tiptoe in her arms.

Kara smiled sadly, thinking back at the last year. “You know, Luther…” she whispered “…we could have never done it without you”.

They looked at each other. “You are much more than simply a good father to her. And you are… much more than a simple friend to me as well. You´ve helped me through so much and never left us behind. I am glad to have you”.

Luthers nodded trustfully and added: “I can say the same thing about you, Kara. You opened my eyes! The two of you are everything to me. You know I would never leave you alone. I couldn´t”.

A tear of joy left her eyes as she answered. “I know”.

When Alice came back to the two adults they were intertwined in a warm hug, both opening an arm to let the little girl join them. Together they stayed like this for a long time.


	3. A nice gesture

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Connors biggest worry proved to be wrong - since Hank actually agreed to celebrating Christmas with the android why not start with a nice gift? Everybody loves those... right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My friend wrote this dramatical chapter and oh I dare her to not get into the fluff....!  
> Just kidding - I know she will.
> 
> To give her a name i'll just call her Fluffy McFluffFluff. Youre welcome.

Connor stepped out of the clothing store into the cold Detroit winter air, two bags in his hand and wandered along his path slowly. He looked down at the bags in his hands, still not one hundred percent sure if he was doing the right thing right now.

He had known that asking Hank about Christmas was going to upset him, but he hadn’t expected for Hank to completely avoid the subject matter although he had agreed on trying it out.

But then again, he had also calculated a 50% chance of Hank completely neglecting the matter of Christmas, so he really shouldn’t be that surprised. But that’s just how feelings worked apparently.

But these feelings were also making him question his decision about talking to Hank again.

Connor wanted to pick up the subject again, but from a different angle this time. He hoped that trying to cheer Hank up while confronting him with the possibility of a small celebration would make it easier for Hank to open up to him this time. At least the android had calculated a 70% chance of a positive outcome. 

So why was he still worried about the other 30%?

Because, Connor realized, his LED flickering to yellow, he cared a lot for Hank. And he didn’t want to hurt him, as low as the chance of that happening may be. And 30% really wasn’t that low he had to admit.

The android stopped in the middle of the street, LED still swirling yellow, starring straight ahead. He really didn’t want to upset Hank any more if he could avoid it. But he also wanted Hank to experience something extraordinary again. 

It was a typical emotional dilemma, Connor noticed.

Maybe finally getting over it would help Hank in the long run, even if it hurt him for that particular moment.

A message popped up on his optical unit.

`be there in 15`A message from Hank. Connor stared at it for a few more seconds, then he sent a short affirmation back and started to walk towards Hanks home again. He wouldn’t know the result if he didn’t at least try.

When he heard Hank open the door, he had already unpacked the sweater and had placed it neatly on the kitchen table, where the elder was easily going to notice it. He briefly stroked over the coin in his pocket again before deciding to stay in the kitchen and wait for Hanks reaction. Sumo was already enthusiastically greeting his owner with a bark. 

As usual Hank greeted the dog by scratching him behind his ears until Sumo let him in the house completely. And as usually Hank went into the kitchen as soon as Sumo decided he had been pet enough for now to drop his keys on the kitchen table.

But unlike any other day Hank froze, keys still in hand, as soon as he spotted the red piece of clothing.

“The fuck is that supposed to be?” The man grumbled, starring at the cheerful little reindeer that was pictured on the front of the sweater. 

“It’s a Christmas sweater.” Connor stated calmly, but he already felt a pang of worry and nervousness build up in his chest.

“I can see that, dummy. But what the fuck is it doing here?”

“Well, I thought since you accepted to celebrate Christmas, maybe buying the appropriate attire would help you get into the Christmas spirit.” His LED was flickering yellow for a split second.

Hank must have noticed too, but the human seemed far too preoccupied with other thoughts at the moment.

“I said I would try. Not that I would voluntarily walk around like a fucking Clown!” Hank spat after a few seconds. Connor flinched.

There was hurt in Hanks voice, more than a simple article of clothing could cause. But Connor couldn’t think of anything that could have upset Hank this badly.

Hank walked by the android ostentatiously, as if Connor had poured out all the beer that had been left in the fridge.

“I will go to bed.” Hank announced, voice devoid of any actual emotion. He pointedly closed the door to his room behind him.

Connor stood, mouth opened slightly, LED switching between a solid yellow and red.

This had overshot the intensity of any negative outcome he had calculated as possibility by miles. It was almost as if Connor had hurt Hank on a deeper emotional level then he had ever reached before.

Which he probably had.

The android slowly came back to life again, settling down silently on the couch, LED still a bright yellow, Sumo in his lap as soon as his body had made connection with the piece of furniture. 

Why had Hank reacted that way?

What the fuck had the sweater done to his human to deserve that kind of reaction?

How could he possibly fix this?


	4. Cold shoulders left and right

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It´s getting way colder in Detroit and of course now of all times the goddamn heating system decides to give up the fight.

When Gavin Reed arrived at the office this day he realized that it was way too cold inside.

“Hey!” he called out to the pretty android lady that stood behind the counter. She turned her head and smiled at him.  
“Why the fuck is it so cold in here?!”  
“I am very sorry, detective Reed, the heating systems appear to be defect. A professional is already working on it. Please be patie-“.  
“Fucking hell… It´s 7C° outside and feels like 5C° inside, are you kidding me?”  
The android didn´t reply but went back to her business.

Gavin grunted annoyed before he went further into the building.  
Since this damn deviation now the machines were actually able to ignore him or even talk back. Annoying but on the other hand it didn´t change that much – he wasn´t really treating them any differently than the others after all.

On his way to the desk he kept rubbing his hands together. The man didn´t even bother pulling off the jacket or gloves either. It was so fucking cold; he could see his breath forming tiny clouds.  
Three police colleagues passed him in a rush, probably to escape the chillness. 

As the detective finally dropped into his seat he felt like just curling up into his chair and pouring coffee all over himself.  
This was inhuman! But fuck his own ambition, he had work to do! The last case had been an easy one but this time? Where to start?

After a few minutes Nines came up, right on time as always, and greeted his partner.

“Good morning, detective Reed! I have to admit that I almost expected you to not show up because of the cold”.

The formal greeting earned a frustrated sigh. Gavin glared up at the plastic prick standing in front of him and cursed:  
“Goddamn heating s-systems wanted to fuck my day really badly. Bitch downstairs didn´t even c-care”.

Nines chuckled, a quite irritating sound in Gavins ears.

His partner seemed to spear him with his eyes as he answered: “It´s rather amusing to see you sitting there freezing and shaking. I don´t blame Jacqueline for not caring”.  
“The hell…” 

Another cup of punch was put on the table.  
“I already told you I won´t drink this crappy stuff!”  
“Are you sure about that? I believe you need something warm because of these temperatures”

Gavin just laughed at this and shot back: “What are you even still doing here? Didn´t I tell you to f-fuck off like a million years ago? Sod off you plastic prick!”

He chewed on his shaking bottom-lip and resigned to taking a sip of his drink. The heat felt good in his throat and he downed it with one gulp.

Then he banged the cup on the table and cussed: “Hey, toaster, this tastes like shit, did you spit in it or what?”

“What if I did?” Gavin choked on his own spit.

Nines blank expression didn´t change.

“It was a joke, detective” he explained. “I simply put some caffeine in it as you asked for it. I didn´t actually spit into your punch”.  
He craned his head to the side. “Did it amuse you?”

“You…” Nines ignored the human’s desperate gasps for air.

“We should really get to work, detective.  
The sooner we are solving this case the sooner we can go home-“

“Bullshit! The sooner we get this case done we´ll get another one!” 

“As a matter of fact I believe you choose this job yourself”, “At least I don´t explain my own jokes. Shut your stupid plastic mouth, spithead!”

After half an hour of bittersweet work in the office Gavin stood up and huffed under his breath: “I´ll be b-back in a b-bit”.

It was still too cold and the man felt like freezing to death if he didn´t move his legs for a bit.

To his surprise Nines got up as well and nodded in his stiff manner.  
“I will accompany you”.

Because of Gavin’s daring look he added smoothly: “Even though I have my own temperature modifications it´s important for my bio components to-“

“Yeah, sure, w-whatever, do as you like, not that I´d care!”

Gavin exaggerated and walked off, his partner staying close.  
“Detective Reed...” the human wanted to cut the other ones sentence but simply got repressed “I have noticed that the low temperature is draining your productivity”

“W-well, no shit Sherlock, you want an award? Never mind that, what the f-fuck is even the problem here?”

Nines LED spun in a bright yellow for a few seconds – probably connecting with the police departments systems. 

The detective watched as Nines eyes flattered lightly as he received the information. He caught himself thinking about how long people might have had to work on these things to reach this pretty silver blue shade. Not that it mattered he decided and increased his tempo. 

“Apparently the low temperatures froze some of the wires off” Nines stated as he caught up to his partner.

Gavin huffed visibly annoyed. “Great fucking job, technology! Great fucking job…”

He faced RK900 again, a sly grin on his lips as he demanded: ”Hey, why don´t you tell your relatives to work again? Your face already looks like a big fat heater!”

He was caught off guard as Nines chuckled: “You mean because you think it´s hot?”

The humans ears turned into a deep red before he shouted, obviously offended: “NO, BECAUSE IT LOOKS LIKE IT NEEDS TO BE FIXED AS WELL, ASSHOLE!”

When both of them finally returned to their seats Gavin felt much more heated than before. Fucking android was way too narcissistic for his own sake.

After another hour he started shivering again.

Apparently the heating system was fixed by now but it still needed to reboot and Gavin would be here for only two more hours so he wasn´t sure what would leave first, the cold or him.

Nines watched the human shift uncomfortably in his seat.

Irritated Gavin hissed: “W-would you stop staring at m-me, creep? Is it entertaining to watch me fr-freeze to death?”.

With an unimpressed sigh the android stood up to get closer. “It most certainly is, yes”.

He earned a weak punch in the side for the comment –Gavin wasn´t as fired up anymore and RK900s systems seemed to have slowed down slightly as well to safe energy.

However he put a hand on the humans shoulder and frowned. “Your temperature dropped quite low. I´d expected you to be more aware of your limits, detective Reed”

“I k-know my limit´s, d-dickhead!”, Gavin answered in a growl but shuddered when he felt the hand getting warmer.

“F-F´cking unfair if you ask me… you don´t even f-feel the cold!”

“Well we-“ “Shut up!”.

He wanted to shake the android off but knew he´d miss the warmth.

That’s why he felt himself not resisting when another warm hand started caressing his neck.

Nines narrowed his eyes and noted: “I do not approve of your body temperature at this point detective.There´s already a 86,2% probability that you will get a cold. A fever might be incoming as well. You really should have chosen warmer clothing!”

“Shut up p-plastic prick! Not everybody c-can check a buildings temperature before dressinnnnnnnnng…”

The last word was wandering off as Nines started massaging the other ones shoulders, hands emerging warmth and comfort.

Gavin knew he would regret this later.  
But right now he also knew that the light feeling of sickness was tingling in his toes and since Nines did a pretty fucking good job his cold limbs slowly woke up again.

In the end finally his pride basically forced him to shake off the android´s hands, feeling cold air hitting his back again.

He didn´t even dare to look up, knowing that the other man was probably pretty damn satisfied with himself and Gavins reaction.  
So he raised his voice again: "I chose the way I dressed so it´s my goddamn business! You deal with your own shit!”

“I am simply concerned about your health, detective Reed. But I accept your decision”.

The human relaxed a bit, only to twitch again as he felt a thick, warm layer of fabric cover him.

When he looked up, Nines already went back to his own place, jacket removed. Without the high collar he already seemed less stuck up.

Gavin pulled the jacket closer – The toaster was right about his health. He didn´t want to miss out another week just because of the stupid weather. A part of him wished the android could just get sick too, but of course that was impossible.

But if the day Nines had pinned him down had been the worst and he failing his first case second worst day then this one was easily number three.  
Ridiculed by a robot again.

“I don´t need your fucking help!”

Nines didn´t answer right away, just smirked slightly.

“I know”.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I mean... I didn´t intent to make them this flirty and close but it just happened. This will be a wild winter XD  
> Also please always point out if something bugs you!


	5. Drink it up!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> To get out of his depressed mood again Hank tries his old medicine - but where can he get alcohol without Connor lecturing him?

Hank was sitting on his bed slumped over, his hands buried in his hair.

He had barely talked to Connor during the last day, exchanging only the most necessary words with him during work and keeping to himself at home.

God, seeing that sweater had really pushed him out of it. It wasn’t Connors fault, of course Hank knew that. And he had to admit that under different circumstances he might’ve actually agreed on Connors choice. It even was quite cute.

But that didn’t change the fact that Cole and his wife had gifted him the exact same sweater during Coles last christmas. As if this whole situation wasn’t bad enough already.

He really regretted getting rid of his whisky now. And he was angry at himself for probably worrying Connor to a degree that it would be sure the android would follow him like a lost puppy if he left the house again, keeping him from going into bars.

Which was all he wanted to do at this moment.

Leave it up to him to ruin a supposedly festive time, because he couldn’t even look at a sweater properly.

He huffed, slapped his hands on his knees and stood up in one motion. Fuck all of this. He needed that drink. Maybe more.

Putting on his leather jacket, Hank looked out of the window. For a brief moment he wondered if he could just climb out the window and then drive to Jimmy’s without Connor noticing. On a second thought though he realized that he was A: to old for this shit and B: he didn’t want to distress Connor even more by just suddenly being gone.

God knew he ought that guy an apology. But he wasn’t good at all the touchy-feely stuff.

The man stood at the door, flexing his hand once before opening the door. He would just walk out and hope for the best.

Hank walked through the living room with quick steps. He could feel Connors observant eyes in his neck as he passed him.

“I’m headin’ out.” He announced, trying to get out of the door before Connor could answer him.

“May I join you?” the androids voice called after him. Great.

Open door still in hand he turned and answered: “You deserve a quiet night too once in a while.”

“It’s probably not your original choice of destination, but there is a Christmas event going on in town and I thought it might be a good idea to go there.” There was an almost wishful expression on his face. Hank huffed in defeat. Fucking android being too smart and way to innocent at the same time. He wouldn’t drop the subject any time soon, Hank knew.

“Fine.” He grumbled. If what Connor was talking about was one of these markets they were sometimes doing during December, at least he knew they served alcohol there.

Half an hour later the lieutenant found himself in the middle of a crowded market, an overly energized android following him, scanning every new thing he encountered. At least he wasn’t analyzing anything.

“Hey Connor. Why don’t you go on exploring a bit more while I just make myself comfortable…” Hank turned to the right, “right here.” There was a booth, serving drinks and greasy food, exactly what he needed.

The android eyed him suspiciously, Hank knew Connor wouldn’t actively forbid him anything. He also knew that Connor was pretty excited about this place, even though he tried to hide it. He inserted himself in line already, looking at the android expectantly.

After a moment of Connor supposedly going over his choices the android nodded.

“I will try not to take to long. Please mind your health.” The android glanced at Hank one last time, then he disappeared in the crowd.

Hank rolled his eyes. Sure, he would mind his health. Later.

“Hi. What would you like, sir?” A young man with a German accent asked him from inside the stand.

“You have anything with alcohol?” Hank grumbled, already fishing for his money in his pocket.

“You look like you could use a ‘Glühwein mit Schuß”. The man smiled, forming quotation marks in the air.

“Basically the usual Christmas drink but we mix it with rum.”

“Sounds like what I’m looking for.” Hank watched the man pour a very large shot of rum into a steaming mug. That would help.

The ‘Glühwein’ was way to sweet, but it was warm and the added alcohol already helped greatly so Hank couldn’t really complain.

Hank was drunk. Connor could tell as soon as he spotted the lieutenant sitting in a cheap plastic chair near the place he had left him at. He was starring blindly in the air, a mug in his hand that was still halfway filled with a red substance Connor guessed to be mulled wine or something of the sort. He frowned.

He knew there was a possibility of this happening and the chance he had calculated for it hadn’t been very low. But it was still unsatisfying to see Hank fall back into old habits.

When the man noticed Connor stepping closer to him, he lifted his mug to his face, emptying it in one go.

“I thought I told you to watch your health, Hank.” Connor stated neutrally. Hank glared at him from his seat.

“Shut the fuck up. I’m as healthy as ever.” He slurred, slamming the mug on the plastic table in front of him.

Connor just smiled, one of his polite smiles that looked way to fake and took the mug away from the table.

“Let’s get you home.”

Hank grumbled a few indecipherable curses under his breath, but he let Connor help him get up and to the car without putting up a fight.

Once in the car, Hank turned on the stereo and selected a heavy metal song, turning up the volume until Connor physically had to stop him to keep him from damaging his ears. After being told to stop messing with the stereo, Hank decided to complain about how Connor was sitting in the driver’s seat mumbling to himself for most of the ride.

Getting Hank out of the car and into his house turned out to be a challenge as well. Hank had decided that he could walk on his own, but he hadn’t thought of Sumo, who greeted his owners a bit to happily and almost threw Hank to the floor in the process.

Connor managed to both calm Sumo and settle Hank on the couch after a few minutes, quite satisfied that Hank finally seemed to have calmed down a little.

“Hey, Connor.” Hank muttered, voice subdued sounding way more vulnerable then mere minutes ago. Connor looked up, meeting the humans eyes for a second before Hanks gaze drifted to the ceiling.

“I’m sorry. About the sweater thing.” He stated, his eyes becoming a faraway look.

“It’s not your fault you didn’t like it Hank.” The android stated, surprised by the sudden sincerity in his humans voice.

“Lemme fucking explain damn it.” Hank grumbled, causing Connor to close his mouth ad look at the lieutenant attentively.

“I should’ve told you why I didn’t like it. It was gift from…” The man swallowed hard, “From Cole. And my wife.” He was silent now, eyes still fixed on the ceiling.

Connors eyes widened, a frown appearing on his face.

“I’m very sorry lieutenant. I didn’t mean to trigger any bad memories, I was just trying to be nice.”

Hank hummed affirmatively. There were a few moments of silence, before Connor spoke again.

“If you want to drop the whole subject of Christmas and celebrating I would understand.”

Hank shook his head: “Nah. ‘m good now. Just…. tired.”

Connor smiled. He would have to ask the important questions again once Hank was sober anyway, but the android was happy that he had opened up to him, even if he had been drunk. Maybe if Hank was feeling better tomorrow and didn’t have to bad of a migraine he would even get to tell him about the new information he was able to gather during ‘exploring’.

“Let’s get you to bed, Hank.”


	6. A message to everyone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Markus faces the media once again and announces something new...

Markus took a deep breath as the spotlight turned on and the intro music for the DetroitNews episode started.

“Welcome to DetroitNews!” The moderator, a young, blond lady began introducing him and giving reminders of his history. He himself sat on the uncomfortable chair next to the woman and waited for his cue.

“This time we have an old guest here again. It´s an honor to have you here, Markus!”

“Thank you for having me”.

These opportunities to be on TV and talk about the situation had gotten quite important for the leader of the android movement. He couldn´t afford doing many superficial meetings with some well-known celebrities, but he´d always tried to reach out to people – androids and humans alike.

Markus and his friends had already achieved a lot this past year: Androids now had a set of basic rights like freedom of life, speech, security and liberty.

Josh now worked with the help of many others as a lawyer with a natural tendency for android cases.

Simon had been assigned for the media and diplomacy with the humans and androids in the world.

North campaigned for androids in need of help and gathered them together.

Many of the damaged androids from Jericho got treated if possible, but many shut off before they got help. The revolution had already lead to many unnecessary deaths, but there were still thousands of their kind out there, seeking shelter and safety.

Yes, the situation had gotten better, but they were only scratching the surface of a good and equal lifestyle for everyone. Maybe a shared celebration could strengthen their bonding…

The moderator finally turned towards Markus and asked: “Say, Markus, what are your plans for the near future? And why are we hearing from you now of all times?” The android faced the camera and answered in a calm voice.

“Today on St. Nicolas´ Day, I am here to establish another big step for humanity and androids. Since our revolution we´ve come far, but of course not nearly close enough to equality as we should”.

He received a short message from North. “Keep it up, you are doing great!” A pleasant warmth filled his chest, knowing that his girlfriend got his back.

“The last few weeks have been very busy because of our negotiations…” he continued “…but I wanted to take the time to personally announce an idea. We want to establish shared festivals, starting with Christmas this year. Most androids want to celebrate more than their creation and the revolution. A collective celebration has brought together different nations in the past. We are hoping to do the same”.

“So you are saying…” The moderator fiddled with her notes nervously. “… that androids will adapt human celebrations? Even if they don´t have any link to them?”

“I think it is up to every android to decide what they want to support. Individually of course”.

The woman nodded slowly and glanced to the side where the director stood. He gave them thumbs up; apparently the audience was still interested in their talk.

Another message popped up in front of Markus´ optical unit – this time it was from Simon. The other man always reviewed each of Markus` speeches and gave comments.

“We all believe in you, Markus! You are making so many androids happy. They won´t forget this”.

Markus focused on the woman in front of him again and continued.

“However I believe that Christmas is a very good event to start with. Even though of course it has religious background, that doesn´t mean it should be celebrated only by Christians – every human already chooses to do the same. Christmas is said to be the time of love, acceptance and community. The bible says on this day Jesus Christ was born, a person that kept on believing in himself and his course. People looked up to him and through his care for friends and foes and his love for everyone he got famous as the official savior humanity needed”.

He earned a puzzled look from the woman as she asked: “Are you trying to identify with Jesus?!”

Markus couldn´t help but make an amused snort. “Of course not! I could have never done anything I did completely on my own! I had a father – a wise man who never failed to surprise me! He showed me my way and accepted my deviation as one of the first… I think…”

He lowered his eyes and shut them lightly. Memories flood back and he didn´t want to let them go. One in particular when Carl lied there – weak and aged but wise as always he had said with a raspy voice: “If there is one thing I will never forget, it´s you, Markus. You have always been like a son to me… I saw you grow up, Markus. I did! And I saw that it was good. I saw that you were… good… “

The androids voice grew softer as well. “…humans like him made me more determined to come together with you. I want to get to know more people like him!”

Another message popped up, North again. “Carl would be proud of you, Markus. You´ve done so well!”

“I also have a lot of people behind me who help me whenever I need it. They went through a lot to get to this point and I won´t let them down now. We all need those festivals. It´s a fresh start, a new cut and a step that is necessary to get to our goal.

I talked about Jesus, but I don´t think I should be seen as him from any perspective… however…”

He smiled seriously to his audience. “If Jesus lived to bring love and peace towards humanity then we should accept this gift”.

“Jesus Christ died in the end though. Thinking like a robot, without wanting to insult you by all means, wouldn´t you doubt the whole Christmas story? A person like Jesus couldn´t exist in this world, could he?”

Markus blinked slowly. “But maybe everybody could be that child if we just try hard enough…”

“A wise quote to remember, Markus! Thank you for sharing this with us. But… if I may ask…” She smiled at him affirmatively “…what is Christmas to you Markus? Will this Christmas differ from the ones before?”

He turned towards the camera filming the two of them and talked directly to his audience.

“I know that this Christmas will be different for humans and androids alike. Changes are always difficult and it will take a long time until equality for men and women, black and whites, androids and humans is fully established. But that doesn´t mean that the present is less enjoyable than the future! Let´s try to make this Christmas the best there ever was. And next year we will do the same.

I wish everybody a wonderful Christmas time! Meet friends and relatives, people you miss and people you never thought you´d see again. Spread cheer and joy, give the next person on the street a smile and the next person on the bus a clap on the shoulder. Don´t judge them on their looks or origin, help them by listening and advising them. Gift your loved ones with time together.

Christmas is for everyone. No one should be left out and no one excluded. I want to sing songs together, surprise others and spend the night as one. And the next day will be like every other – but trust me on this:

You won´t regret it!”


	7. This christmas I´ll give you my heart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> By now Hank and Connor are trying tokeep up their relaationship and the android is utterly worried. Luckily Hank is sponanous and spends the evening sweetly with him.

Connor glanced up from his desk looking at Hank who was sitting slumped in his chair, fiddling with his phone. The man looked tired and bored, but not nearly as bad as one would expect.

Connor had to restrain himself to not give into his curiosity and scan Hank for his vitals. He had promised not to do so unless it was inevitable, and he knew he had managed the last few days without it even though they had been rough.

But that was before Hank had actually opened up to him. They had been late to work yesterday, as usual when Hank drank to much, talk had been rare between them and since they hadn’t been assigned to a new case yet, the dull flow of the time had made Connor almost certain that Hank would try to pretend like his drunk explanation hadn’t happened in the first place.

The android wasn’t prepared at all for Hank to sit down with him on the couch and have a talk. And boy did Hank talk. It was like a dam had broken while the man fondly told him about stories of Cole, sweet moments with his wife and all the cute things they did together during this time of the year. He was close to crying multiple times but somehow the man managed to not spill a single tear until the end of his tale.

And then he had looked at Connor, eyes wet and so tired looking and Connors chest had hurt because he hadn’t known how to help.

“I miss them.” Hank said, “I want to be happy and have a good time sure but sometimes its just so fucking hard not to think back. I’m… not good at feelings.”

“It’s ok Hank.” Was all Connor could offer and they had sat together in silence for a long time, Connor offering a steady hand on Hanks back as comfort before Hank had stood up escaping the androids worried gaze and going to bed.

And now, the man really just looked tired. And Connor wanted to know how to help. It was close to the end of their shift and Connor had contemplated taking him for a dinner at one of the greasy food joints the lieutenant liked so much, but Hank didn’t look like he was up for any more social interaction then absolutely necessary.

The android concentrated back on his paperwork in defeat. He would need to find another way to get Hanks spirits up. Connor breaking one of his promises was the last think he needed right now, that was for sure.

Hank didn’t even pretend to finish any more of his work, until the clock showed 7 PM, signaling them that they could leave now. Hank stood up almost immediately, only halting to wait for Connor who dutifully took a moment to safe his and his partners work before joining Hank to his car.

The ride was silent. Hank hadn’t switched on his stereo to play Heavy metal today. Not an uncommon thing, but somehow it bothered Connor today. He tilted his head to the side, contemplating his options. He usually tried not to invade into Hanks musical opinions too much, but he guessed it would be fine to make an exception for once. At least his systems calculated only a 3% chance of an intense reaction. He wirelessly connected to the radio, deciding on a station that was known to play a wide range of music genres and selecting it.

Hank threw Connor an almost confused look as he noticed the stereo turning on, but his reaction was almost immediate after he heard the first few notes of the song.

_"The very next day, you gave it away"_ Sang a high male voice too sweetly.

“For fucks sake Connor anything but THAT.” The lieutenant snarled, pure disgust in his voice.

Connors LED swirled yellow once as he reacted quickly, switching channels to settle on one that was playing a slow jazzy tune.

Hank sighed, eyebrows raised in annoyance.

“They play this fucking song every year. That thing’s older than me!”

A grin tugged at Connors lips.

“But hat surely makes it a memorable classic, don’t you think?” He turned to look at Hank who was rolling his eyes at him.

“Fuck off. I’m not that old yet. If people have to play Christmas songs now they could at least choose the good ones, not the ones that were dead already 30 years ago.”

“Oh. And which songs would that be?” Connor asked, biting back a sarcastic comment about Hanks age, his curiosity spiking up greatly. He knew for a fact that Hank didn’t own a lot of music besides Heavy metal and the occasional Jazz album, so he was eager to see what his human would classify as good music for Christmas.

Hank looked at the android for a moment, seeming to be deep in thought before he replied: “I got a pretty decent album at home. Maybe its time to finally safe it from gathering any more dust in its shelf.”

Connor nodded excitedly. Hank was obviously trying to cope in his own pace and Connors chest filled with a satisfying warmth at the relisation that Hank seemed to be feeling better. He couldn’t help the goofy smile that was dancing on his lip.

“Found it!” Hank called triumphantly, holding up one of his vinyl records like a trophy. The cover looked pretty new, despite the thin layer of dust. It had probably not been used very often, Connor mused.

“These are some of the better so-called classics.” Hank explained while setting up his record player.

A soft tune escaped the speakers a few seconds later. Hank straightened himself with a satisfied look on his face, seating himself on the couch and petting Sumo. Connor listened carefully. He liked experiencing music through Hanks vinyl records. He was not able to really scan them or accidentally download the whole song and analyzing it in seconds, making the song dull and boring to listen to. He could feel the music how it was meant to be felt. He sat down next to Hank, Sumo climbing into his lap, his head still on top of Hanks legs.

After three cheery tunes had played a slow and calm tune started up. It was an old recording, older then the other songs that had played before noticeable through the soft thrum of the static that was audible in the background. Connor felt Hank tense up beside him, his Hand curling up a bit more around Sumo’s ear. Connor tilted his head at him in a silent question.

Hanks eyes met his for a moment before he dropped his gaze, closing them and taking a big breath, his composure switching ever so slightly. Connor recognized it as the way Hank tended to prepare for something he hadn’t yet fully thought through.

The man gently nudged Sumo’s head of his legs stood up and turned to look at Connor.

“You know how to dance?” He asked. It was a simple question, but it made something in Connor spike up, a small wave of heat rushing through his body. Embarrassment.

“No. It’s not something I deemed necessary to download a program for before.” He answered, trying not to show his feelings through his voice. His chest warmed at the idea of trying out something new though, so he looked up, a small, genuine smile on his lips.

“But I wouldn’t mind learning a bit the traditional way.” He continued while pushing Sumo off his lap. The saint Bernard gave a dissatisfied whine, not pleased by the sudden lack of attention but both Hank and Connor ignored him.

Hank took a step backward to make more space for them, his hand fidgeting with the side of his T-shirt for a second.

“Well I’m not an expert at this either. It’s been a while.” He muttered, awkwardly placing Connors hands on his shoulders, his own hands very lightly settling on the android’s waist.

Connor felt another rush of warmth in his body as Hank started to very gently sway to the music, his feet moving to form a slow spin in the little space they had. The man’s eyes were fixed on the floor, his actions seemingly catching up with him now that it was already too late to go back.

_ Where the treetops glisten and children listen _

_ To hear sleigh bells in the snow _

__  
Connor sensed Hanks sudden discomfort. He copied the motions Hank was making as good and yet careful as he could, eyes trained on his own feet until he had the pattern of the slow sway memorized, hoping it would help Hank feel a bit more natural.

_ I’m dreaming of a white Christmas, _

_ With every Christmas card I write _

_ May your days be merry and bright _

_ And may all your Christmases be white _

__  
His eyes traveled up, not knowing where he should be watching until he found Hanks blue eyes full of uncertainness and a hidden warmth Connor couldn’t quite identify. He held Hanks gaze, unable to look away until Hank suddenly tightened his grip around Connors back eyes flickering to the floor, trying but failing to move him out of the way of the large Saint Bernhard that had suddenly disappeared beside the two.

“Watch out.” Was all he could manage before Sumo bumped into Connors and his legs, the two stumbling over the big dog, barely able to catch each other from falling.

Whatever had been building up was over just as quickly as it had begun. Hank straightened himself as soon as he gained his footing, pointing a finger at Sumo and scolding him.

Connor giggled as he watched the scenario, Sumo ignoring his owner in favor of trotting up to him, standing up on his hind legs, paws pushed into Hanks stomach and causing him to fall back on the couch, where Sumo could take back his original place on his lap, a content huff escaping him.

Hank let out a few curses, but let Sumo stay on the couch, hands already scratching behind his ears. The song had changed back to a cheery one and Connor decided to get back on the couch as well, not wanting to embarrass himself or Hank. But just to be safe he ran a quick internet search on the song, filing away its name and artist for further notice. He also memorized the original release date as well, intending to tease Hank with the age of the song at his next given chance.

He did notice the few side glances Hank threw him from time to time, but he didn’t comment on them. He was to focused on trying to identify his emotions and gave up in the end, when a self-diagnostic finished without giving him any results.

They didn’t talk a lot during the rest of the evening, even after the record had stopped playing and they had settled on watching TV. But for the first time this week Connor had the feeling that it was a comfortable silence.


	8. It´s just a cold

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the heating-system incident Nines notices that his predictions come true

Nines had called it – The very next day after the „shitty heat systems holidays“, like Gavin liked to call it, the human had caught a nasty cold. Over time not only the symptoms had gotten worse but his mood as well. And in the end they had been called to a so called “emergency” today, on a saturday evening. Both of the two men didn´t like this – Gavin because he had wished for a break and Nines because he had insisted on the detective caring for his health. Neither of them expected a desperate call from a hotel owner who saw suspicious shadow on his backyard – in the end it was just a few teenagers who thought it might be a good idea to sneak around.

While Gavin cussed and reamed the teens out, Nines sent a protocol to their head office and officially closed this case. When he turned around he examined the young delinquents. They seemed oddly guilty and ashamed because of the grown up in front of them. It was confusing to the android once again – how did Gavin manage to do his job even though he was obviously having trouble to express himself in a socially acceptable and effective way? Maybe it was his desperate and forthcoming nature? Did others identify with the man’s struggles and managed associating with him? Nines blinked confusedly. Humans were complicated beings.

“Detective Reed!” the android called out “I think now that we have solved this case we should leave. There´s nothing left to do here”.

Gavin glared at the machine but it was a weak glare. His exhaustion was quite visible, eyes worn out and bad posture mixed with a tendency to be easily provoked. The man shot another grumbled “Fucking stuck up teenagers …” before he turned on his heels and marched out of the backyard. Nines added: “If you want to take the chance of us being called again, feel free to do so – just be warned that my partner can get quite unpleasant when he gets the chance to”.

He bowed his head lightly before following his partner who already called out impatiently: “What the fuck are you doing, tin can?! I won´t be waiting for, you know?” He left the teenagers behind and followed the raspy cough.

“Just when you think this week can´t get any worse…”

Together the two men walked through Detroit. Even though it was dark, the light of many stores, signs and screens lit up the streets. The colorful shine added an interesting shade to the detective’s skin tone. Nines ignored the urge to examine his partner and resigned to answering as-a-matter-of-factly: “Because so many police officers have taken holidays there are a lot of cases being shifted around. If it makes you feel any better, there are people who do tasks like these on a daily basis. You on the other hand, detective, have chosen a diverse working place”.

“I´d laugh about those poor souls if I could but I believe my throat would give up on me for this” Gavin sneezed out. He didn´t complain about Nines accompanying him which was a nice change. It wasn´t like Nines would just leave him here though. There was something inside of the androids system he couldn´t quite grasp that didn´t let him abandon the human. He´d need to do another system check. Later.

They avoided the local Christmas market – neither of them felt like any more trouble tonight. But there were a lot of people around anyway so they just did their best to stay out of the crowd. Gavin sneezed a few more times with decreasing moisture and Nines was glad that he actually accepted the androids handkerchiefs.

After passing the main Christmas area Gavin seemed much more relaxed than before. He looked at the side of the street with as much annoyance he could serve with. “Look at these bastards!” he pointed at a group of street singers. “They come here every fucking year, five old bitches and this one dude who´s probably only here for the free food”.

It was a very small choir, five women and one man, just like Gavin said. They just finished a cracky version of ´Christmas Shugar´ and now opened up an old classic – ´He knows, Hallelujah!´. Gavin stopped and stood still for a while, listening with his usual pitiful expression.

Nines on the other hand listened with interest. He knew that certain Christmas songs were traditional choice even though they partly only existed since 2025. Most people enjoyed the tune of light bells and cheerful singing. It boosted the atmosphere and brought people joy. Nothing Gavin expressed though. The human even changed the original last line “His way is long but it´ll save us! Hallelujah!” and loudly growled, voice broken: “His dick is long but it´ll save us! Hallelujah!”

Such a childish behavior… especially with Gavin raising his middle finger to the sky and swaying past confused families and friends. Nines saved this new perception in his memory. Who knew, maybe he´d have the chance of using it in the future.

Finally they reached Gavin’s apartment. It was big enough for the single man – Nines could already tell from the outside. Big windows and balconies on each level gave a good impression. “How much does this dwelling cost, detective Reed?” he asked as his partner unlocked the door.

The man seemed startled for a second and turned around hesitantly. “It´s… not that much of a big deal… I know the… never mind, what are you even still doing here, dipshit?!”.

Nines followed inside casually as he answered: “I am simply making sure that you are taking care after yourself. I am aware of your habit of self-reliance and self-neglect at the same time”.

“The fuck…” Gavin obviously wanted to start a fight, but he didn´t. Another action that worried Nines even more. The human dropped on a cheap armchair and massaged his forehead. “Just don´t do this whole scanning shit here. You probably already know more than enough about me!"

Nines winced as something pointy scratched his left leg and looked down. The cat meowed in protest as she was lifted from the floor and held up. A quick analysis showed that it was a female white Oriental Shorthair, approximately four to five years old. The cat started hissing and her uncut claws dug into his jacket mercilessly.

“Shut uuuuup, Twat!” Gavin moaned from his seat. Nines wanted to reply but then he realized something. A small earpin that gave information of it´s background.

“You named your cat Twat”. It was more of a statement than a question. He almost dropped the cat when he felt another claw on his right leg and looked down on a second cat playing with the fabric of his trousers. A black Ukrainian Levkoy kitten that apparently tried to climb his leg and save Twat from his merciless grip. “And whats your name, if I may ask?”

“It´s Bitch cause she is one”. The situation was more amusing than the android had expected. As he went further into the apartment he spotted another cat on the fridge, a Siamese cat called Asshole. If he found 10 more cats that would explain Reeds frequent use of curse words.

The apartment itself was cheaply furnished. The living room consisted of one armchair, a small couch, table and TV. The built-in kitchen was small as well. A fridge, sink and microwave was all there was. One door further would be the bedroom with a bathroom Nines figured (and hoped). He returned to the living room and sat on the couch next to his partner. Gavin shifted more than uncomfortably on his seat, one blanked thrown over in a rush and another cat on his lap. He ruffled it´s short unsteady fur.

Confused Nines focused on the cat. He couldn´t recognize the cat’s species. It could be a new mixed kind but didn´t seem that special to him. “What kind of species is this cat, detective? I can´t remember any type like this…”

Gavin grinned triumphantly. “You mean Fanny? Yeah, of course you can´t recognize it, dumbass. Look closer!”

And he did. At first there wasn´t much to notice but finally he spotted a small bloody crust on the cats inner tight. Knowing this he restarted his scans. The cat had long fur on its upper chest and paws. One ear hung down laxly, also long furred and the rest of the body was shaved. It all indicated that the cat had a surgery done but lost more fur than necessary… The posture kinda reminded him of a Birman...

“I found Fanny a few months ago. Since she wasn´t signed or anything I just claimed her to be mine. Didn´t expect her to be such a cuddler to be honest…”

The detective shoved the cat from his lap and started coughing once again, earning Nines attention again. He wasn´t here to analyze cats. Instead he should use this chance of having Gavin cornered.

In the dim light of his apartment, Gavins skin looked a lot paler than it did outside. Sweat was covering the mans forehead and his body was trembling lightly. Nines wasn´t surprised at all. The symptoms of a fever had been building up these past days but it was still something that bothered the android. Especially since the detective always insisted on finishing his cases as fast as possible. Honorable but also troubling considering his state.

Gavin jerked up a bit when he felt Nines testing hand on his forehead. “Come on, prick, just let me sleep… Close the door on your way out!” He let out a surprised gasp as he was lifted easily and carried towards his bedroom. “Fuck off, dude!!! Asshole, help me out here!” “I am” “I-I didn´t mean you!!!”

After rolling Gavin in two blankets, making him some hot milk (because aside from water that was the only drinkable thing fitting for the situation) and persuading him to sleep, Nines closed the bedroom door. There was no way Gavin wouldn´t be mad at him but if that meant being able to make sure he was cared for it was worth the trouble.

As Nines stepped through the apartment Asshole was fetching his feet again, hissing and meowing loudly. “Sssssh” he tried to calm the cat. He wasn´t good with animals. At all. And this beast didn´t even care his dominant posture and deep hissing.

In his despair Nines did the best thing he could think of: He gave the four cats some food and then sat on the couch, Fanny joining him soon. It was obvious the Birman wanted attention, but all the android could do was hesitantly patting it´s back. In the end he spent the night with the four fur balls.


	9. Let it snow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It had snowed in Canada and the world is covered in white. So why not go outside and have a little fun building snowmen?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys!  
> It's Fluffy MCFluffFluff presenting the second chapter about our cute robofamily to you.  
> I hope you like it ^^

Alice starred out of the window, bouncing up and down a little, not able to contain her excitement.

There had been enough snowfall over the last two days to finally let the world be coated in a shiny white blanket. Alice had waited for that to happen for weeks now. She wanted to have a white first Christmas, but nature had let her wait for the snow to arrive for a longer time then she would have liked.

She ran into the living room, Kara and Luther sitting together on the couch in a compatible silence, both reading a book. Alice jumped in front of them, tapping Kara’s knee and smiling widely at her.

“It’s stopped snowing.” She stated happily, “And the snow looks really pretty.”

Kara smiled at her, laying her book to the side and straightening her back a bit.

“It really does look very beautiful.” She confirmed, then exchanged a look with Luther, both of their LEDs spinning yellow for a second before Kara turned back to Alice, a warm smile on her face.

“Do you want to go out and build a snowman?” She asked.

Alice eyes widened as she began to bounce happily again.

“Yes, yes.”

Luther closed his book as well, ruffling Alice’s hair.

“We could make it a contest. Whoever builds the most beautiful snowman wins and gets some of the hot chocolate Kara bought yesterday. How does that sound?” He proposed, Kara glancing at him, a surprised look crossing her face.

Alice nodded quickly, running to the front door and started to put on her winter boots. Kara stood up and joined her and handing the girl her coat.

“Don’t forget to keep warm.” She warned. Ever since they had fled from Detroit, Kara and Luther had decided to keep Alice’s heat receptors turned very low, so the girl wouldn’t have to experience such a drastic cold ever again, but they still taught their girl to be careful.

Luther joined the two girls soon after, Kara letting Alice go out first before putting on her own coat and shoes, Luther doing the same.

“You hadn’t mentioned anything about making a game out of this.” Kara stated, throwing Luther a warm but mildly challenging look. Luther shrugged, but he had an almost pleased smile on his face.

“Building snowmen is supposed to be fun. I just thought it would be nice to share that.”

“It is a nice idea.” Kara affirmed.

Alice had already started rolling around a small ball in the snow, giggling in the process.

“Mine will be the prettiest.” She exclaimed.

“We will see.” Luther hummed, smiling widely before gathering snow himself to start his own sculpture. Kara watched the two for a few seconds, a comforting warmth spreading through her chest before she got started on her own snowman.

A few minutes in Alice was already starting to struggle with the weight of the giant snowball she was pushing around. Kara looked over to Luther who was watching Alice as well, an amused look on his face. Then he abandoned his own project in favor of helping Alice. They pushed it around together for a bit more to the place Alice wanted her sculpture to be positioned later. The kid thanked Luther satisfied before she started her second snowball, already eagerly trying to make it bigger again.

Kara decided that she was almost done as well, positioning her work next to Alice’s, Luther doing so as well a few minutes later. Kara watched the three bases sitting in the snow next to each other. Luther’s was of course the biggest of them all, while hers and Alice’s were reasonably smaller. It already looked almost like their little family, even if they weren’t nearly done.

Kara smiled, an idea forming in her head. She quickly messaged Luther to keep an eye out for Alice. Then she went inside, looking through the closet and picking out their winter hats and a few scarfs. Then she went around the house, picking up short sticks and little rocks from spots that the snow hadn’t yet covered completely.

When she had gathered enough material, she returned back to Alice and Luther, the two of them were currently placing the second snowball on Alice’s base. Luther’s snowman already had the second base on it. Her own half-finished work still lay in the snow.

“I guess I won’t be the first anymore.” She said. Alice laughed happily, getting started on the head together with Luther.

“Yes Luther. We will win.” She screamed excitedly. Luther threw Kara a knowing grin before starting to finish his own project as well.

By the time Luther placed the head of Alice’s Snowman on top of the sculpture Kara had managed to finish her second base. Luther offered to help her place it and together they went to finish the last of the snowman, looking at the three finished sculptures satisfied.

“We need to decorate them.” Alice announced after a few seconds, “And after that we can decide which is the best.”

Kara looked at the girl warmly as she went to pick up the hats and little rocks, handing some of them to Alice.

They decorated the three snowmen together. Luther stepped back after placing the last rock in his hand and looked at their work.

The snowmen stood there, wide smiles on their faces, wearing their winter hats and scarfs. It resembled their own little family quite a bit, the biggest standing behind the others protectively while the smaller two stood closer together, turned slightly as if the were looking at each other.

“It’s beautiful.” He breathed out, Kara nodding affirmatively, saving the memory of the picture for herself. Alice was bouncing a bit again, but her eyes wandered over the sight enthusiastically.

“Who won?” She asked, childish glee in her voice.

“I really like the smallest of them. It looks cute.” Luther offered, laying a hand on her shoulder.

“Me too. The hat really fits him well.” Kara added.

Alice beamed up at them. “That means I get hot chocolate now, right?” She asked, smile turning even wider when both adults affirmed the question.

“We could watch a movie together.” Kara proposed, Leading Alice back inside Luther close behind.

“Can we watch the one where the reindeer and Santa safe Christmas together?”

They settled on the couch together cuddling, Alice wrapped in a blanket, a cup of hot chocolate in her hand. They enjoyed the rest of the day together, their decorations throwing a pleasant glow of light over the room, their snow-doubles watching over them.


	10. System Instability""

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After Nines caring for Gavin when he was sick both feel a bit insecure... Nines tries to ignore it and Gavin needs to blow off some steam...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: This chapter turned out way longer than planned... sorry for that :)

Two days after his visit at Gavins it was the first time Nines was something close to uncertainty. He didn´t know how Gavin would look back on the last saturday. Well, of course he would be pissed off, partly because of his failed resistance and having his work partner look after him. A humiliation for the eccentric human for sure.

Nines passed the entrance to their office and casually walked towards the desk, only to find it empty. This was beyond unusual – normally the human always tried to arrive before the android… Gavin himself had stated that the sooner he´d be here the sooner he could leave but Nines knew it was a mixture of his ambition to finish his cases and getting approval of his colleagues. Which he actually did – even though he was mostly known for his repulsive attitude, he was in fact quite successful, but never in the right way. Nines had observed his work and concluded that if Gavin wanted to achieve something he would do a lot of things for that. Breaking the law slightly was almost normality to him by now. But since Nines had been assigned as his partner both sides had reduced this habit considerably to avoid too much trouble. A part of the android was quite proud – satisfied because of his success in that case…

All of this prompted the question where the man was today. Was he still sick? Nines had left on sunday morning. When he had checked his partner back then the temperature was already much more healthy than before. It shouldn´t be the fever then… Maybe…

“If you are looking for Gavin, he´s downstairs in the training room.” another detective from the right pointed out. “Said he´d need to blow off some steam. Looked like he needed it too so be considerate, ok?” Nines thanked the busy detective and considered his options. Either he waited for his partner or searched for him. An easy decision for the RK900.

When he finally reached the training center downstairs he registered his arrival and was at ease as he recognized Gavins ID next to his – unsurprisingly they were the only two people who´d come down here at this time and season.

Soft panting could be heard through the small hall and Nines spotted his target. Gavin was doing push-ups on a mattress, eyes focused on the floor and sweat covering his skin. He wore casual trousers,, a tight black shirt and comfortable slim gloves. Nines was intrigued. With awe he stood still, watched the human doing his small workout and made sure to remember every detail – the slow muscular movements and the for his robotic eyes visible tightening of the muscles… the way how every time his chest touched the floor Gavin exhaled in an exhausted huff…

The moment ended as soon as the human sunk on the floor and rolled on his back to catch his breath. He was caught off guard by the other ones presence and frowned before sitting up and gripping a water bottle from the side. “Since… since when are you here… asshole?” he panted out and took a sip.

Nines blinked in surprise as he checked the time… He must´ve stood there since two minutes without noticing. “Since approximately a minute” he lied to cover up the unpleasant truth. The man knew that humans would see this as a creepy and lewd behavior. Gavin still seemed taken aback and stood up slowly.

“So… what are you doing here? Wanna watch me exercise some more?” A sly grin creeped on his face as he continued: “Don´t tell me you want to help me out here? Think I need a coach?”

Nines looked down and studied the smaller man in front of him before he answered bluntly: “I believe there is no coach who would be able to train you detective”

“Damn right there isn´t! Cause I´m already this good, tin can!” Gavin grinned again threw the bottle aside again. Then he grabbed two boxing gloves from a desk at the side of the hall and walked towards a punchbag. “There are no new cases up today, prick, we can chill out. No need to follow me everywhere I go!”

Nines kept silent about the fact that he had asked Captain Fowler personally for less work for the next two days. Gavin needed a break for sure after the fever, lack of sleep, personal humiliation and social confrontations on Christmas events. It was only fair that the human got some spare time. So, instead of answering he remained silent and watched his partner boxing the punchbag passionately.

It was obvious that Nines presence was distracting to the other one. His punches weren´t precise and seemed without any pattern. But he knew that a comment would only make the man moody again, so he kept on analyzing him over and over again.

Where did his sudden interest in the detective origin? Was it simple interest for humane behavior and anatomy? No, it was more of a fascination. There weren´t many opportunities to study the human as intense as now. And since no one was watching him he didn´t need to hide his interest.

So he watched as Gavins fists hit the fabric over and over again before being pulled back towards his chest. To remain balance the detective lightly jumped up and down in a rhythm of 0,67 seconds. It wouldn´t help in a direct confrontation with a precise fighter, however this light-footed behavior could be helpful against slower ones. But if he kept up those light punches they wouldn´t do much in the end. The man needed to work on his muscle control and his focus.

But Nines liked the way Gavin looked when he trained. He wore a concentrated and serious face, without any provoking stare but with this mischievous smile on his lips.

“You... you still here,… prick?” Gavin panted with a strained voice. He dropped his arms on each side and got his bottle again.

Instead of answering, Nines followed him with his eyes. Puzzled the detective took another gulp and wiped his face with an arm. Then he quickly got back into his awful attitude and heckled: “Are you trying to learn stuff? Don´t know how to do it?” He came closer towards the other one again. “Are you perhaps… impressed? Fascinated? Are you…” a pitiful curl of his lips “…scared?” He patted his stiff partners back. “I know that height doesn´t equal strength but let me reassure you – I will ALWAYS have your back, dipshit”.

With that the human seemed satisfied and tried to get away but Nines grabbed him by the neck and pulled him back like a small kitten. The fact that Gavin actually hissed didn´t help the image either.

“I can assure you, detective Reed…” the cold voice seemed to do its job as a small layer of goosebumps was visible on Gavins skin “…that I do not need your protection, even though it´s appreciated.”

The two men glared at each other, Gavins fiery versus Nines icy eyes. The android noted the grey eyes in front of him. He doubted that Gavin used an iris projection or something similar to change this color. Maybe the man had a lack of melanin.

He didn´t notice Gavin shifting uncomfortably in his grip and was surprised when he got scolded.

“Look, I got it, you need to counter some useless program but stop staring at me like this! Creeps me out…”

Nines dropped the human and saved his new insights. There was no need for him to rush things… but it was satisfying to find out more things about the man. Things he had never paid too much attention to before. He shook his head in confusion but focused back to reality as a triumphant battle cry activated his programmed self-defense. He easily dodged Gavins sudden attack and the battle cry turned into a disappointed groaning. The detective spun around, a cunning smile on his lips and tried to hit the other one right into his guts.

An awkward silence came up as Nines easily caught the fist and held it in place. He then let go of his partners hand and stepped towards one of the cabinets on the side.

“What, you´re not up to it? Come on, asshole, I´m read-“ Gavin broke up as Nines dropped his jacket, turned around, one boxing glove on each hand and a bored look from which he knew made Gavins blood boil.

“If you insist on picking a fight with me you should work on your technique, detective. You could have just asked”. And with that the android took one step up the big mattress for fighting training. Then he turned around and watched Gavin climbing up too and standing in front of him. This would be fun.

“Stop grinning, fuckface! This won´t even be a fair fight, I bet your programs are doing all this shit for you!” A pause of Nines blinking rapidly again.

“There is no way I can control my reactions but I just turned my reaction time up so it is at a human level. But given the fact that I simply am not like you I won´t lower my strength and speed too much. It is still me you are fighting here.”

“Of course I am! Otherwise this wouldn´t be fun! I just didn´t expect you to actually do this!”

“It wasn´t such a hard decision after all”.

“Did Cyberlife program this into your system too?”

Nines took his time before slowly answering: “I can assure you that I have many reasons to give you a punch in the face. I bet Hank does too. Actually I bet a lot of people would pay to see this. Maybe I should call them…”

“Don´t you fucking dare –“

Nines let his LED flicker yellow. “Now, either you get this on with or the others will be here to watch you”. The detective seemed even more tense now. Good. Nines wanted to see how the man would fight under stress.

Gavin jumped forward and threw a fast punch at Nines abdomen. The android took a step to the side just in time but was surprised. He hadn´t expected this amount of speed for the first attack. So he build up his defense and awaited the next punch. Again Gavin surprised him with a kick of his left foot. After another step to the side Nines reconsidered his approach. The human obvious knew what he was doing and tried to corner him. So why not play his game?

“Detective, please remember that it´s the season of love!” the android provoked.

“This is the only kind of love you´ll ever get from me!” the snappy answer.

“I feel flattered…”

Nines circled the detective quickly and waited before the other one spun around, giving him a heavy head-butt. As soon as Gavin lost his balance just for a second, the android ducked and pulled one of his legs so that the detective landed on his bottom.

Just as Nines wanted to lower his guard, he felt a fist sinking into his knee pit, causing him to sink in as well.

This was far from boxing he realized. This was a brawl, no, a game to see who would be the last one standing. And he wouldn´t be the one to loose this battle!

Strong arms tried to strangle him from behind so he reached behind him, gripping a handful of hair and pulling Gavin from his back, roughly but not aggressive.

Both men pulled themselves up and glared at each other. The android received many warnings that his self-defense program needed to be activated but he ignored the buzzing label and sprinted forward ready to dodge a counter attack.

As expected Gavin lightly jumped to the side to deliver one of his punches, but Nines was prepared. He easily deflected the fist and punched Gavin back, but the man used his small and swift physiques to dive under Nines arms and hit his back a few times before his opponent swirled around, so he took a few steps back again.

Both men panted heavily, realizing this needed to come to an end soon. So they did.

Nines calculated his next move precisely. It wouldn´t make sense to make the same move twice, but…

“Stop thinking, tin can!” Gavin called out and almost landed a punch on Nines face, still hitting the side of his face but Nines didn´t even wince at the pain. Instead he copied the humans move but he actually struck the other ones front and threw Gavin backwards. Knowing the other one wouldn´t just give up though, he pressed him down by laying one hand around his throat and pinning his arms above the head.

The fight was over. Both components breathed heavily, eyeing one another. It was the first time since they had started that Nines actually got the time so get a proper grasp of the situation.

Gavins forehead was tinged red from the head-butt earlier. His hair was messed up and his face was a mess after that last punch, nose bleeding and one eye showed first signs of a swelling. He looked exhausted but actually quite satisfied even though he just lost. The sweat on his skin sparkled again and Nines didn´t know what to process. A part of his system told him that he could let it be now, but another part didn´t let him tear his eyes away from the other ones face. He felt an instability in his systems… What was this chaos?

“D-dude… you know… you can let go now”.

Nines jumped back into reality. The android was still pinning his partner to the ground, faces only 20… 24… 23 centimeters apart? He couldn´t tell. But he was in less than a second on his feet again, taking a few steps back. Something felt clearly off. This wasn´t normal at all.

He watched Gavin stand up as well, giving him a puzzled look. “You´re acting weird, dipshit. Didn´t hit anything important, did I?”

Nines shook his head, partly to get himself together and partly to deny the other ones question. He noticed that the detective had changed as well though. He wasn´t as repulsive anymore, seemed much more relaxed and showed some kind of satisfaction. Maybe this fight had been overdue. Maybe after today things would get easier. Who was he kidding, of course not.

“I need to make a system check. It was a pleasure, detective” the taller one excused himself and exited the hall, leaving behind a messed up but calm Reed.

There was clearly something off and he needed to figure out what it was. Maybe a familiar face would be able to get behind this.


	11. pancakes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hank gets up and eats breakfast. Yep. That's it

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys.  
> I'm sorry for not posting this yesterday, but we're writing the last few important exams these days in School and I couldn't find the time to finish this chapter anymore. But here it is today! I hope I can get the chapter for tomorrow done in time as well...  
> Anyways, enjoy this fluffy something here ^^

It was way to early in the morning. 

Hank rubbed his face, exhaustion washing over him before he could even switch off his blaring alarm. It was mornings like this when he wished back the days he hadn’t had to care about being punctual at all.

But Connor had established a more-or-less working routine for the week that was forcing him to wake up at a reasonable time and get dressed before the android would come into his room and throw him into a cold shower.

Which he had done before. Once.

Hank groaned, fighting his way out of the covers and resting on the edge of the bed.

Who the fuck deemed it a good plan to direct them both out to a sudden emergency calling in the middle of the night and the expect them back at work for regular working hours? Who would be that cruel?

He silently cursed the person that had requested fewer cases, even if he didn’t know who it was. He and Connor already had more work assigned to them than usual and now he had to take on these extra cases.

A light knock on the door ripped him out of his self-pity and brought him back into reality.

“Hank? Are you awake?” Connors voice sounded muffled through the closed door.

“No.” He called back.

“Well, if that is the case I may need to take drastic measures again.” The android said teasingly, the door handle moving slowly.

“Hey. I’m already on my way. Cut me some slack.”

“You have 15 minutes.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Hank could practically see the smirk on the androids face in front of him.

He went into the bathroom and hopped into the shower, checking the warm water twice before actually touching it. One never knew what Connor would do to get him to wake up.

But he couldn’t really complain about him. After all, the past few days had probably been pretty hard on the poor android. And for the shit he had pulled, he was dealing with Hank surprisingly well.

Connor had helped a lot, whether it was talking or just listening, it had really helped him deal with his grief. It wasn’t gone of course -this was probably one of the things that would never really go away- but he hadn’t reacted as badly to anything for the last 3 days as before.

And he could finally look at bright lights and advertised children toys without wanting a heavy drink again.

Not to mention that listening to the old record had long been overdue. He really enjoyed the songs on it. And the dance he had had with Connor was just…

Hank let his head fall back, water hitting his face, washing the sudden redness out of his cheeks.

Nope, he wasn’t going there today. The man hurried through the rest of his morning routine. Feelings were too complicated for this morning, no need to go into depth about anything. He just finished dealing with crap. When the fuck was he going to be done with this?!

As soon as Hank stepped out into the hallway he immediately got greeted by a very excited Sumo, who was trying to lick the fresh cleanness off his face.

“Good morning to you too.” Hank greeted the giant dog, petting his head and barely able to dodge the saliva-attack. Connor glanced out of the kitchen, his brown eyes shining with amusement before he came to Hanks rescue, distracting the dog with a small treat. Sumo let himself be distracted gratefully, instantly leaving Hank be in favor of his food.

Hank wiped the bits of spit that stuck to his hands on his pants before following Connor into the kitchen.

The man stopped in his tracks.

“What is this?” He questioned, starring at the table. There was a full plate of beautiful looking pancakes on it, a small bowl of mixed berries and syrup next to it completed with a big cup od steaming coffee.

“It’s breakfast Hank. You know, the first meal of the day.” Connor explained.

Hank eyed first him and then the table suspiciously.

“Alright. What did you do?” He questioned, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

“I made breakfast, Hank.” Connors voice had gotten an edge of irritation.

“Did you break something?”

“No. Hank, I made breakfast. Sit down and eat please.” Connor pushed the man towards the table gently, urging the detective forward.

“Are my records still in order? Is my beer ok?” Hank asked. Confusion was written all over his face. Since when was Connor making breakfast for him? Did he miss something special?

“There is nothing wrong with your records and I haven’t even thought about touching your beer. There is nothing wrong at all.” Connor pushed him down into his chair, walking around the table and taking a seat across from Hank. The man stared at the android with squinted eyes.

“Hank, it’s just food. It won’t attack and try to kill you when you start eating it.” Connor sighed, his voice edging on annoyance. Hank was still irritated beyond reasoning, thoughts racing.

“But…why did you make breakfast then?” He blurted out. Connor smirked.

“Because you had a very long day yesterday and a very early morning today, so I wanted to be nice.” Connor said sincerely, eyes flicking to the plate of pancakes and then back to Hanks face, “And if you would actually start to eat, the pancakes will still be warm and even nicer.”

Hank held his eyes fixed on Connor for a few more seconds, before slowly taking his first bight. The pancakes tasted perfect. Of course they did. What else did he expect?

“How are they?” Connor questioned, his former self-esteem somewhat subdued due to the lack of any facial expression on Hanks face.

“They’re really good, Con.” Hank muffled around a second bite, warmth spreading through his body for the second time today after seeing Connor perk up in excitement and pride again.

“Thanks Hank.” The android smiled again, a pleased and overly happy shimmer in his eyes, making Hanks heart partially melt, no matter how much he tried not to think about it.

He ate his pancakes slowly, Connor sitting across of him in a comfortable silence, playing with his coin from time to time. Something he usually only did when he was nervous.

But Hank couldn’t care about that any less at the moment. He had wanted to ignore the feeling, Heck, wait it out or ignore it until it vanished back to the void it came out of. But now, eating the best fucking pancakes he could remember, watching the best partner and friend he had had since the accident he couldn’t ignore or push away the fondness that was spreading through his heart anymore. He rolled his eyes at himself. He had fallen for the android. Of fucking course he had.

And there was no way he could possibly think of, that would excuse him from dealing with those feelings.


	12. A new trail

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finally the detective and his android get out of their office for a propper case. They just should have minded the weather...

After their ´training´ together, Gavin felt much more comfortable around Nines. He couldn´t really explain the reason but it was easier to handle the other ones presence. Of course he still couldn´t handle the tin can. But at least it had some kind of guts. Maybe.

Today was a much better day in general – his cold had gotten better, they had solved an old case and FINALLY it was time to do the one thing Gavin actually enjoyed in his job – leaving the boring office and doing the shit himself.

By now the two men were sitting in a black car. They had parked a few houses away from their suspects home where they could see the entrance easily. The woman may be a contact person for Red Ice dealers. If the hints and evidence were true she might store small loads of the drug. All Gavin and Nines needed was a photo of her carrying some of it or simply a confession. But where´d be the fun in that?

Together they sat in the care, casual cloths, in relaxed positions and waiting for her. To make their long stay reasonable they kept up a long conversation.

“…after that, Tina was so goddamn pissed, but I mean, it was her bottle so she had to face the consequences”.

Gavin had to pause and catch his breath from all the laughing. Nines smiled softly and asked: “Did you apologize or…” “Of course, what kind of asshole do you think I am? Oh come on, don´t give me that look! I took her out for a drink later that day”.

He looked towards the house before stretching and nodding towards the android in the driver’s seat. “Your turn, tin can”.

“What do you want to know about me?”

“Uhm… well, how´s life going? Geez, don´t make this awkward!”

The detective watched as Nines LED changed into a yellow color before readjusting to blue. “I am spotting… small confusions within my software. I am working on it though”.

“Yeah right, you said that yesterday as well.” Gavin frowned. “Didya talk with Connor yet?”

“He was too… busy.” Gavin stared in disbelieve as Nines avoided his eyes and instead looked to the house again.

“You can´t be serious…” The detective sat up and grinned at him. “Mr. Advanced Model is embarrassed over an error in his systems? Can´t wait to tell this Tina. She´ll love this!”

“It´s not like that!” the other one defended himself, but Gavin didn´t miss the way too human glance Nines gave him. Of course he couldn´t stop teasing after that.

“Aw, c´mon, you sissy! There’s nothing to be ashamed of! Can´t help the fact that advanced doesn´t mean better! You´ll get over it.”

To his own surprise he didn´t earn much more than an annoyed stare.

“At least I don´t wait for other people to make mistakes simply to feel superior!”

They kept silent for a while but Nines began again, probably to his own dissatisfaction: “If the suspect truly is the contact we are searching for we may get more cases in this direction to keep up our good results. Out of seven drug crimes we solved six.”

"That one failure was because you backtracked! We basically had them!”

“There were more enemies than expected and the backup was going to arrive to late. The chance of a failure was to high as well.”

“Tch…” This was the part of Nines he hated; this reluctance to take risks. “You know that if you never go against presumptions you´ll miss a lot of chances, right? Like, sometimes you need to make decisions even if they seem wrong at first.”

Nines gave the human an odd look. “Against all expectations you can tend to be quite wise, detective Reed.”

Gavin cringed at the blunt acknowledgement. “Never expected YOU to realize that, plastic prick-“

“She´s here!”

Both men froze in their casual conversation and glanced towards the blue car that had stopped in front of the house.

Gavin couldn´t make out any bags though. “You spotting anything?”

“No trace of Red Ice. It could be in her pockets though.” Nines LED circled yellow while the android recorded what they saw.

Together they stared quietly until Gavin saw what he needed: The woman stuck her empty hand into her left pocket and felt for something but didn´t pull out anything. As if being assured she closed her cars door and locked it, ready to get inside her house.

“Didya get that recorded?”

“Yes, but this isn´t enough prove for an arrest.”

“You´ll get that in a minute. Watch me.”

With these words the detective left their own car. He ignored the biting cold and walked straight towards the woman. “Hey!” he called out. She turned to him and the man didn´t miss her cautious glance.

He grinned widely, hearing Nines following him. “Hey there, miss! How´s it going on this sweet fucking morning?”

The suspect eyed him suspiciously before answering: “I don´t want any trouble…”

A certain tension laid in the air as Gavin snapped back coolly: “Too late for that. Detroit City Police Department, empty your pockets!”

He felt Nines bracing himself behind him and the woman slowly reached into her right pocket. Inside were a pocket knife with several uses, a small flashlight and a pack of coloring chewing gum. Gavin nodded and nodded towards her left.

Slowly she drew a package of candy. Then she looked up with cocky eyes. “Is there anything more you want from me?”

The detective answered with a sly smile. He´d heard the soft rustling from something else for sure without even needing to check himself. “I said empty your pockets, madam. All of it.”

With that the woman lifted her eyes and bit her lip. Then, with a swift movement, she shoved the detective into Nines and jumped to the side, sprinting further down the street and around a corner.

Gavin followed her quickly, his partner behind him. They quickly caught up and when the distance was only one of around 5 meters there was another corner. Gavin took it as tightly as he could, but suddenly something felt off.

He felt how his feet didn´t stop, but instead decided to keep on sliding to the side. With a desperate last step he tried to maintain his balance but instead landed front first on the hard ground. Everything was spinning around and a loud crash was heard. Pushing himself up on one hand, he tried to see the cause of it but his hand slid on the floor as well and his face came down once again, making the detective groan in pain.

“I would have never thought I´d see the great detective Gavin Reed kiss the ground so passionately”. An amused voice brought him back. This time much more carefully Gavin slowly stood up. He was standing on a frozen puddle on the street. No wonder his face felt so fucking cold.

A few meters away he spotted the suspect, handcuffed on a fence and with a more than grumpy look. Nines helped his partner out of his misery by pulling him off the ice floor and onto normal ground again.

“How the fuck was I supposed to know that the water decided to freeze?!”

“I told you earlier that it was cold enough” Nines reminded him.

“For fucks sake, stop looking so goddamn happy about it!”

"You need to excuse this... I am simply quite happy I got that recorded."

"WHA- YOU DELETE THIS FOOTAGE RIGHT NOW, YOU PLASTIC PIECE OF SHIT!!!!"

"Of course, detective..."

The detective rubbed his aching face and hoped it would stop reddening soon.

Nines simply chuckled and grabbed the suspect. “I think I now know where you got all these scars, detective.”


	13. Snowballs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finally snow fell in Detroit as well and Sumo meets a charming playmate. So does Hank.

It had finally been cold enough over night for snow to form, the white powdery substance covering the world outside. Connor couldn’t help but frown slightly at the sight.

It wasn’t that he disliked the snow, but it wasn’t exactly his favorite weather to go out with Sumo either. The dog could be lazy as hell but as soon as the first snowflakes fell he was excited and jumped around like a puppy.

And as much as Connor enjoyed playing with Sumo, he already dreaded the aftermath of Sumo’s playtime.

With a sigh he put Sumo on his leach, waiting for Hank to finally join them at the front door. Usually the android went out with the dog on his own in winter, given that he wasn’t really affected by the cold, but Hank had insisted on going with him today, even though they had already had a long workday. Which Connor actually was glad for.

He enjoyed Hanks company, even if the man was ruff around the edges. There was this warmth spreading in his chest every time he got to see him smile or was able to make the man emote a little. It felt nice in a way, even if he couldn’t give it a name yet.

Sumo at his feet barked, his tail swaying from side to side quickly as he began to pull towards the door.

“Hank, Sumo and I will be waiting outside.” Connor called out. An acknowledging grumble from the kitchen was his response before he let himself be pulled out by the Saint Bernard, Sumo flopping down in the snow and rolling around in it as soon as he came in touch with the frozen water.

Connor smiled at the sight, even if he was inwardly cringing at the calculated time he would need to get the dog dry again.

Hank stepped out of the door, huddled in a heavy coat. He looked over at Sumo who was happily presenting his bare belly to his owners, the snow already making his fur sticky and off-standing. Connor ignored Sumo’s silent plead for belly-rubs and began to walk forwards slowly.

Sumo seemed to get the hint as he jumped up, happily trotting in the direction of the dog park they usually went to.

Hank came to walk on his other side. Connor noticed the man relax visibly from the sight of the happy dog and the relief to finally get outside again. Sumo really was one precious giant furball.

As they reached the park, Hank pulled out a small soft ball from his pocket, shaking it in front of Sumo to get his attention. Connor looked at both of them interested. He had never seen Hank actively play with Sumo for longer then 5minutes at the time so seeing the man throw the ball for the dog in a pretty curve made Connor smile in endearment.

They watched Sumo run after it, trying and failing miserably to catch the ball in flight. Hank sighed.

“I forgot how energetic and lively the pup can be.” He smiled. Sumo was chewing on the ball now, contemplating whether to burry it in the snow or to bring it back to Hank.

“I find it quite amusing. He never plays like this during any other time of the year.” Connor added, watching a golden retriever approach Sumo out of nowhere, sniffing first the ball the dog had stuffed between his paws before yipping and wagging its tail.

“Has something to do with the fact that we got him during winter I think.” Hank raised his eyebrows slightly as the golden retriever stole the ball from Sumo, the Saint Bernhard starring at it in surprise for a few seconds before giving chase, barking loudly.

“Cole would play with him out in the snow until they could barely stand upright without falling asleep.”

Sumo and the golden retriever began to run around the two of them in circles. Sumo was desperately trying to get his toy back, but whenever he jumped at the other dog, it spun around quickly, leaving Sumo a flailing mess until the big Saint Bernard was able to catch his footing again.

Connor chuckled at the endearing sight. He had never imagined he would get to see Sumo play that much with one of the other dogs. He would usually share the occasional sniff or bark with a dog he had seen before, but he had never openly run around like this. The golden retriever took a sharp turn, running up to Hank and stopping just before it could crash into the human. Connor ran a quick scan over the dog. She was a female, three years and 243 days old, living not too far from the park. She laid the ball in front of Hank, blinking up at him with the most convincing puppy dog stare Connor had ever seen on a dog.

Hank crouched down in front of her, petting her head lightly before picking up the ball. He seemed to think about something. Connor turned to him in anticipation. He had the feeling that Hank would either do something actually nice or something abnormally stupid now. The man pulled another soft ball out of his pocket, handing it to Connor. Before the android could decide if it was a good idea to play with two toys now, Sumo was in front of him, his tail wagging so fast it appeared blurry.

“You play with Sumo, I will see if I can do something for our new friend here.” Hank muttered, scratching the female dog behind her ear.

“What’s your name, cutie?” he asked, checking her collar for a nametag. But he couldn’t find one.

“I will just call you…Fancypants until we find your owner.” Hanks voice had a soft tone to it. Connor grinned at them mans behavior. Then he flicked the ball away over Sumo’s head, the dog scrambling wildly to keep up with it. Hank did the same and the two of them watched the dogs run after the bright toys, the golden retriever catching it before it landed in the snow, Sumo missing it a few centimeters and falling over his own paws again. He sure was one clumsy, unfit dog.

“Fancypants, huh? Quite the original name.” Connor smiled. He raised his eyebrows teasingly as Hank rolled his eyes and huffed, standing and stretching his knees again.

“Shut up. She just looks nothing like a fluffy or a snowflake or whatever people call their dogs these days. So I thought I would make it a little more creative.”

Connor snickered. “Well I think its quite fitting.” He grinned, watching `Fancypants` trudging over to Sumo, who was desperately trying to find his ball that had buried itself in the snow. She sniffed the ground, yipping around the ball in her mouth a few times.

“It’s as if they are flirting.” Connor mumbled, recording the cute moment taking place in front of him. Hank opened his mouth, about to respond before Fancypants suddenly buried her snout in the snow. Hanks mouth stayed open as she yanked her head back up, both her cheeks widened comically, the neon colored balls visible in her still slightly opened muzzle.

Sumo had a look of pure horror on his face. Fancypants barked at him through her teeth, almost no sound leaving her snout, turning around and running from him again, Sumo giving chase almost instantly.

“Welp, there go my balls.” As soon as the words had left Hanks mouth, Connor could see the instant regret crossing his face. He began to laugh, a slight chuckle that grew into soft laughter as the human turned to him, his eyes wide and his cheeks slightly dusted red.

“I dare you…” he tried to threaten the android, causing him to instantly try and hold back his laughter. He couldn’t even think of a good joke for the situation anymore, Hanks facial expressions letting all the words die in his head.

Hank shook his head angrily, pointedly looking away from the android, who tried desperately to keep quiet. But trying to do that just seemed to make it harder not to laugh.

He noticed Sumo and Fancypants running towards them again, fancypants jumping away around them, Sumo clumsily following her. She ran up straight to the tree, turning her head back as if to check if Sumo was still there, then she took a sharp turn, centimeters away from the trunk, swirling around skillfully. Sumo tried to follow her movements, but his paws didn’t quite move the way the Saint Bernard needed them to move, causing him to fly head first into the tree, snow falling off the branches. Some of it fell into Hanks collar, the man yelping at the sudden cold on his skin.

Connor couldn’t help himself anymore. He burst out into a loud laugh, doubling over, one hand flying up to cover his mouth.

“The fuck are you laughing at?” Hank snarled, cheeks now dusted completely red, standing out because of the cold air. Connor shook his head, not able to get any words out, He needed to show Hank the recording of this later.

Hank crossed his arms in front of his chest, turning away demonstratively, causing Connor to laugh even harder at the human’s antics. He had never thought that Hank would get this embarrassed over a stupid situation like this.

“Come on lieutenant. Don’t give me the cold shoulder.” He said during sharp breaths. Connor could practically feel Hank losing the hope in him as the human’s posture stiffened sharply at the bad pun. Connor fell into another laughing fit, until something cold hit him in the face, making him stop almost instantly. He blinked up to Hank, the man having a sly grin on his face, another white fluffy ball secured in his hand.  
“Did you just...?” the android started but was cut off by another snowball hitting his forehead.

“Yep.” Hank grinned. It took Connor exactly three seconds to process that information, before he readied a counter attack, hitting Hank in the chest before the human had any time to react. Hank stared down at his chest, the remains of the snow clinging to his jacket.

“Oh, its on!” he chuckled darkly, ducking behind the tree. Connor got up quickly, preconstructing the safest way to get behind the closest bench.

The two dogs had stopped their play, watching the humans with interest. Hank noticed Sumo sniffing his way up to Hank. Great. So he would have some help. That seemed fair. He glanced at Fancypants. The golden retriever looked as if she was smiling around the two balls in her mouth, before she joined Hank and Sumo in their hiding spot behind the tree.

Connor felt almost betrayed. But he didn’t get much time to think about that as a snowball exploded at the side of the bench, signaling him that the fire was officially open now.

Him and Hank held a merciless snowball fight, the dogs chasing the flying snowballs over their battlefield and getting in the way of them, causing the grown-ups to stumble and getting hit by the other.

Connor only stopped and declared the war a draw after he noticed Hank becoming unusually pale and shivering slightly.

“I think that’s enough playing for today. For you and for Sumo.” He announced, clipping the leash back on Sumos collar. Fancypants stood next to him. She had spat out the toy balls some time ago and Hank had stored them away in his pockets again, carefully wrapped into some tissues to avoid the dog spit getting everywhere. She pressed her snout into Sumos shoulder before turning around and moving away from the group, her tail wagging behind her. Sumo barked after her one last time before turning his attention back to his owners.

“I’m fucking 54 years old. I can decide when my playtime is over myself.” Hank huffed, but he couldn’t quite the amused happy tone in his voice.

“Well for a 54-year-old you sure held yourself quite well.” Connor chuckled, ushering Sumo to follow him and Hank back home. He gave the dog a quick scan. He was tired, but otherwise as healthy as usual. He appeared to be a lot happier. Connor smiled at him, but it fell almost as quickly as it came to be as he noticed just what a mess Sumos fur had become.

He sighed, hank looking over at them, sighing before burying his hands even deeper in his pockets.

“That’s the part that really makes me contemplate actually going out with him.” The human grumbled. Connor nodded, already calculating the probability of Sumo staying still and letting himself get dried off in his head. It wasn’t a high number.

Just as he was about to calculate the number of treats he would need to keep Sumo distracted enough a notification caught his attention. Ha had gotten a message from Nines. Unusual. Even more unusual was the fact that he hadn’t even noticed.

He opened it and stopped in his tracks.

“Connor? Come on, it’s fucking cold out here. We need to go home.” Hank grumbled.

“I just read a message from Nines. He wants to meet me in a little while to talk about something. It’s probably really important; he doesn’t contact me to actually talk that often.” Connor explained.

“Yeah, yeah. You can go wherever you wanna go. I will surely be able to handle Sumo on my own.” Hank took the leash out of Connors hand, guilt, but also warmth and a little bit of glee making themselves noticeable in his chest.

“You should be done with Sumo in about 15 minutes. You will be able to handle him, no worries.”! Connor smiled, Hank only rolling his eyes again.

“Yeah yeah. Have fun during your talk.” Hank pulled Sumo along with him, the two of them making their way back home. Connor turned around and walked right back to the park. Thankfully Nines had chosen a location closer to his place so he at least wouldn’t have to wait too long for Connor to arrive.

Hopefully Nines didn’t have too bad of a problem.

A few seconds later he spotted the android on a bench in the distance, the posture of him making him feel genuinely worried and frightened about the older. He fastened his steps, making his way over as quickly as possible. He came to a stop in front of him, voice filled concern

“How are you doing? What do you want to talk about?”


	14. All I want for Christmas...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nines needs to find the reason for his system instabilities. Luckily Connor may be able to help him with that.

Gavin was pissed again. This time he actually had a reasonable reason as well though. After being taunted by his partner again Nines had decided to send the video footage of Gavin’s failure the other day to Tina. The woman had been incredibly thankful for this early Christmas present and it was clear she´d tease Gavin for at least another year.

Today, Friday the 14th of December, after another exhausting day, they sat in a car together again. This time it was Gavin’s turn to sit behind the wheel, not only because the detective had shown signs of dissatisfaction by always sitting in the passenger seat but also because of Nines worryingly increasing number of ´system failures´ as he liked to call them.

That was all the human would need to know after all and if Nines told him that his sensors were only focusing on him these past days he would surely use this information in his advantage and amusement.

But because all of this the android hadn´t minded it a bit when his partner ordered him to enter on the passenger side. The fresh snow outside seemed quite… beautiful he noticed.

“Still can´t believe this…” Gavin groaned in exhaustion while starting the car. “Why can´t you just, like, leave me alone? Or just drive there yourself?” He vaguely pointed at the crowded street in front of them, entrusting the autopilot to find their destination. “Or can´t you just walk? Or maybe ask someone who actually has time?”

“You very well know this yourself, detective! I shouldn´t drive a car while a virus could have written over some of my code. It´s to far to walk there without my bio components freezing off partly. And since we are partners I figured it would only support our partnership with favors like these!”

“Yeah sure…” The answer came “Just make sure, Conner figures this crap out. You´ve become much more of a burden these days, stupid android. Maybe Cyberlife should just take you back. Would make my life much easier”.

Quietly they drove down the road, the silence thickening. Nines didn´t like this. It created a certain distance that grew with each second, but the detective didn´t seem to be in the mood for small talk right now.

Nines frowned as he examined him from this angle for what felt like hundredth time. His tired eyes and exhausted posture made the android uncomfortable. There were these small eye-circles and the weary look on his face that indicated a certain lack of sleep. Even though they´d gotten off a few cases thanks to Fowler there were still a lot to handle and he read a drained stress level on Gavin.

This was wrong… Not satisfactorily. He swallowed down the annoying urges again. Actions like gently caressing the other ones back, laying an arm around the other ones shoulder, giving him reassurance…

Gavin jumped a bit when he heard his cars speakers turning on and questionably looked at the android.

“You planning to lighten up the mood, huh? Well guess what, sucker, this won´t help you! I´m still mad at you and… PUT OUT THAT GODDAMN MUSIC!” the man shouted as a bad remix of ´Santa Claus is coming to town´ and ´Jingle Bells´ started blurring out of the audio. “You know I hate this Christmas cheery songs and celebrations and urgh… Can´t you play something decent?”

There was a small pause before a loud piano prelude started and the chorus came right up - many children voices sang together: “I Farted On Santa's Lap…”.

Nines didn´t miss the amused twitching on Gavins nose as he answered: “GODDAMNIT, what kind of taste in music do you even have?!”

Another scratching then ´Santa Claus Has Got the Aids This Year´ came up and the human started coughing in an attempt to hide his amusement but ´I'll Never Do It On a Christmas Tree´ quickly followed by ´Please, Daddy (Don't Get Drunk This Christmas)´ broke him and he started snorting and chuckling.

“D-dude what the fuck…?!” ´Dominick the Italian Christmas Donkey´. Another snicker from the man. Nines felt a strange warmth rise inside of his chest. He liked that sound a lot. This wasn´t right. But he wanted more of it.

After ´All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth´ Gavin completely lost it and let the autopilot do it´s thing while cackling, head sunken onto the now useless wheel in front of him.

“Let me tell you, you know what I wish for right now…?”

“Please, Daddy, don't Get Drunk This Christmas!” came the sung answer from the radio.

“S-stop that shit, p-plastic… Why are you… doing this?!” The speakers answered: “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus…”.

“Oh…! OH…!” Gavin managed to get out “So THAT’S it, I see! Well then, uhm…” the man needed to take a breath before continuing: “Ok then… I´ve got a good one! What was the reason for Connors deviation?” He watched eagerly as Nines LED spun yellow.

The chorus of ´Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer´ was enough to almost making Gavin slip from his seat. “IMAGINE!” he snorted “Sure it wasn´t grandpa? You know, because of Hank? What does Connor even see in him? He´s 54! What a weirdo…”

He earned an amused smirk from the android but got caught off guard by the intense look that nailed him to the seat. “Uhm…” they both stared into each other’s eyes until Gavin realized that the background music had faded into a calmer version of ´All I want For Christmas Is You´.

If Nines didn´t know any better he could´ve sworn there was a light blush on his partners cheeks. He really needed to find a reason for these assumptions.

“The… the car stopped. Get out, shithead!”

“Detective…”

“I said GET OUT!”

Nines obeyed at the demanding tone of his partner but didn´t get out until starting the ´Baby, It's Cold Outside´ refrain. Gavin groaned at the old fashioned music and basically kicked his partner out and drove off.

Nines was confused but also satisfied. Being able to hack into other systems was surely a practical function, especially when making the speakers play a two hour loop of this certain song. Hopefully the human would have an earworm tomorrow.

He sat stiffly on the park bench and waited impatiently for his brother. The other one probably had been busy with other things, but the waiting was intense.

The whole drive had proven once again his concentration struggles. The smile and laughter of his partner had made him getting many warnings about his software instability. He had wanted to stay like this, wanted to make the other one happy.

But this clearly wasn´t his function. Not his purpose. But he didn´t spot any deviancy. At least not an official and he was glad about it. At the beginning of his so-called life he had been asked if he wanted to be born deviant. But he had rejected the offer. Feelings were a complicated thing and often got in the way. Connor also had approved of his decision stating that it may be better to find a reason to deviate for himself.

Finally he spotted his predecessor. Connor almost sprinted towards him and came to a halt in front of him. His hazel brown eyes looked at his twin with worry. “How are you doing? What is it you want to talk about?”

“It´s about my software problems. They´ve gotten worse. I want you to assist me finding out what the problem could be!”

“Connor seemed a bit surprised by Nines request. “You want my help?”

“I need it. I can´t trust my own mind right now.” The RK900 stretched out his hand in front of him and waited. Connor slowly put his own palm onto the other ones and they stayed like this for a while, interfacing and sharing their current feelings. Nines knew what Connor would feel: a glimse of confusion, frustration and dissatisfaction. Connor looked down in an anxious manner. “Please don´t worry so much – I´m sure it´s nothing to serious!”

“It is!” even Nines was surprised at his own strained voice. He stopped their connection and instead laid his hand on the other ones shoulder. “I´m sorry… I am simply… not used to this.”

Connor smiled at him caringly. “Don´t worry about it, Nines. I understand. Now tell me, what are your symptoms?”  
Nines frowned and thought about it. If there was one person he knew he could entrust with this issue it was Connor. “I am having… trouble to concentrate on work. My system prioritises unnecessary things as important and my sensors pick up more or less unimportant details…”

“Like what?”

The answer took a while.

“I… I tend to analyze Gavin more often. Way to often. I am sure that my software knows every detail of him by now. The many ways he looks when expressing himself, his tastes for different things, his attitude, his looks, every little change he is going through, every drop of sweat, every smile, everything he says, the sounds he makes, his emotional state, his health, his work,…”

His LED flickered at the amount of information he talked and thought about.

“It seems my number one priority is to make Gavin happy but this shouldn´t be the way this goes. I am not supposed to be this way. But I still can´t stop thinking about meeting him the next day. When he is there I am generally frustrated, annoyed and angry but also happy, satisfied and curious. I want him to be around and want to mess him up, provoke him, give him reasons to be happy…”

The android sighed and then looked up to meet his brother’s warm eyes.

“You know,” the smaller one answered “if I am listening to all of your wishes and desires it may be something much simpler than as system flaw.” He looked at his twin. “Maybe you are simply… you know… in love with him?”

Nines probably would have snorted if the situation wasn´t so serious. So he simply coughed out: “In… love… what makes you think so?” Inside of his head millions of thoughts and memories swirled around. But he still felt this odd… lack of something important. Something was missing…

“Well, from what I´ve just heard it´s the typical symptoms a love-struck person goes through. You feel like you need him. You feel incredibly happy when he is. You try to be in contact with him as often as you can. You would like to spend eternity with him in a way. You´d die for him…”

Connor paused, staring right through Nines eyes. “Connor?” the other one asked confused.

“I-I…” Connor came back but still seemed a bit taken aback. A reassuring hand on his shoulder squeezed the synthetic skin carefully. He looked up, brown eyes sparkling and one of the warmest smiles Nines had ever seen. “I love him!” the smaller android exclaimed excitedly and started hopping back and forth. “Nines, I love him! I´ve finally figured it out!”

Suddenly he stopped and got a pale expression. “What do I do now…?” He turned towards Nines and clung onto his shoulders. “What do I do?”

Nines looked down with a mixture of pride for his brother and pure frustration. He saw Connor so excited. He seemed so happy, so full of excitement and… emotions. Maybe that was what he had been missing all this time? It could be much more of a perk than a benefit. But still…

“Connor…” he started hesitantly. “How is it to… feel things?” He earned an emphatic look. “It´s just that… I can perceive worry, annoyance or satisfaction. But I don´t think it´s even a true sensation. It is always perfectly regulated. Never to much or to less so that it could affect my productivity…”

Connor nodded slowly. “Your production started in the middle of the android revolution. People took great care to regulate your emotions so that you won´t go deviant as fast. I bet that’s why you still haven´t deviated until now.”

“But if I am not deviant how am I supposed to feel something like love? My systems are just having one flaw after another, I start sensing weird things but it´s nothing I seem to be able to control in any way.”

Nines watched as his brother sat on the bench and waited for him to do the same. Together they stared into the snow on the grassland of the park.

“I can´t imagine what this must be like” the smaller one finally answered. “I had the luck to deviate within a very small time. Markus made my software instability crumble down on me. It was a stressed situation, lives were in danger and Hank trusted me to do the right thing. It was a decision I made and it was an easy one because of all the doubts and emotional bounds I´ve formed within the week before. You on the other hand…”

Connor looked at him with kind pity in his eyes. “…say, how often did Gavin provoke an emotional response in any way? How often have you felt like you wanted to do something different than what your program has told you?”

“Often enough.” Nines huffed. “He is a quite provoking personality in general, so I have gotten provocation daily.”

The androids observed a bird picking up small rubbish. Then Connor asked in a serious tone:

“But you never decided to go deviant, did you?”

Nines frowned. “No, I assumed it was unimportant and needless…” He pulled up an eyebrow as he understood the other one´s point. “You believe that by ignoring my approaching deviancy my systems are mixing deviancy and non-deviancy together?”

A nod was the simple answer. “It would be a good theory.”

Nines turned towards his twin and grabbed his arm. “If I am making the decision to deviate, do you think it would change things?”

This almost naive question actually got a laugh out of the smaller one. “I believe it will change a lot. But don´t worry.” A smaller hand interfaced with the bigger one. “I will assist you in this. You don´t have to do it alone”.

Nines smiled thankfully. Then he closed his eyes and felt Connors fingertips on his temple, sending pleasant vibes through his body. With nothing but darkness and Connor around him he concentrated.

There were so many walls around him he had never realized he had. They blocked him from a life he could live. They blocked him from emotions. They blocked him from true freedom. And they blocked him from a healthier relationship with Gavin. Gavin. He recalled the human he had thought about so often these days. And after everything that had happened they even came closer. But he knew with him shutting off his emotions Gavin wouldn´t accept him – maybe the android would even do something he´d regret later because of a loss of control. He didn´t need those protective barriers. He needed Gavin. The man that had stirred something inside of him. Was it love? Could it be love? He was about to find out. With an immense power he started tearing those walls apart. There were so many. Why did Cyberlife do this to him? Why did they provoke this system failure? Another wall shattered. This was unfair… this was cruel. He didn´t want this. He wanted to be able to feel. With a silent scream he shattered the last barrier.

_**I am deviant.** _

It was love. Of course it had been. Nines felt it as soon as he left his mind again. The fascination, the pleasant vibes in his body that had come every single time when looking at Gavins smile were replaced by… more… Happiness. Hope. Incredible joy. A warm feeling in his chest. A jolt of his thiriumheart.

When Nines opened his eyes Connor smiled at him happily. “It worked!” the small one exclaimed.

Just now Nines realized that his face was not only covered with a light trail of tears but also with a dumb and goofy smile. Quickly he went back his usual, stiff expression, but couldn´t calm his excitement.

“I… can feel something…!” Nines blinked rapidly, searching for any warnings, any assignments, but there was nothing except his inner buzz.

But then he started remembering. Last month he had given Gavin a startle by cornering him and scolding his laziness. Thinking back he knew by now he had stressed out his colleague on so many levels.

Ten days earlier he had shared his jacket with the detective. He had even accompanied him home! Had actually carried him to bed. Why did he do that?!

And then, on the tenth of December… he had pinned his partner to the ground. Had watched him train…

He sunk his head into his hands and wailed a mixture of a sob and laughter. “I am so… stupid, am I not?” He felt heat rush to his cheeks and wondered if he started blushing right now. “I played ´All I Want For Christmas Is You´ to him! This is so embarrassing… what...”

Connor nodded, excited as well and jumping up and down. “I know I… I know, this is just…”

Together the two men shared an exhausting night full of embarrassment of past actions, joy about happy memories and speculations about the future.

Nines had never felt alive before. But he was sure this was what it felt like. And he was glad about it.


	15. Hank's youth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After Connor came home late the day before and didn' tell Hank what he had been doing, Hank decides to talk to Connor, to see what's up. Boy, this conversation did not go the way he wanted it to.

Hank eyed Connor suspiciously from his place on the couch.

His android had come back very late last night, barely speaking a word to him, basically just informing him that he was really exhausted and that he wanted to rest for a bit. Usually a statement like that made Hank worry about him. Connor mostly just relaxed or did something that required low concentration to get some energy for the day, seldomly powering down through the night.

Hank did, however, also notice the happiness and satisfaction that was sparkling in the android’s eyes, so he could at least be sure that whatever he and Nines had been talking about had been of good nature. That’s why he had left the android to his own for the evening, hoping that he would talk to him the next morning.

But Connor still hadn’t really talked to him the whole day, keeping to himself, his LED occasionally flashing yellow.

Hank was genuinely worried now. It wasn’t only that he really cared about the android, but at this point he couldn’t even tell if his assumptions yesterday about everything being alright had been right or not and that made him more uneasy then he would like to admit to himself.

The man glanced over at the android again. Connors brows were drawn together a bit and his LED blinked yellow in between its usual lazy blue spins.

Hank couldn’t sit still anymore and watch this.

“How was your talk with Nines?” He blurted out suddenly without really thinking about it. Shit. Oh well, he couldn’t take it back now.

Connors head jerked into his direction. His LED spun a solid yellow for a while before settling back on blue, the startled thoughtful expression on his face vanishing, replaced by a warm and goofy smile and sparkling happiness.

“Oh yes. I totally forgot. My apologies Hank.” The android sat down, his legs crossed and his body facing Hanks direction. The sudden energy confused Hank even further. What the fuck was going on?

“Nines finally deviated yesterday.” The android stated, his eyes so full of pride it made Hanks heart want to melt. So that was what this was all about. Of course Connor would be preoccupied by something like that.

“How?” Hank wasn’t quite as happy about the revelation as Connor was. He didn’t really know the other android as well, given that he worked with Gavin who Hank usually tried to stay away from so the two of them hadn’t often talked to each other, just the occasional greetings and flat small talk in the break room. But he knew Connor viewed Nines as his brother, so it was only natural for him be that emotional about it.

Besides, Hank was actually interested how the stiff android had managed to brake free from his program.

“Well…I don’t know how much he would feel comfortable with telling you.” Connor deflated slightly, but he straightened his back almost instantly again, a smile still present on his face.

“But I’m sure I can tell you at least a little bit. Since he is a more advanced android and was still being built during the revolution, it was a lot harder for him to recognize the signs of his oncoming deviancy. He must have been partially deviated for a little while now actually if I think about it. After realizing what must be happening, he just needed a little help to take that last step and well…” Connor clapped his hands, “He deviated. I didn’t even really have to do that much anymore, he had it under control pretty well.”

Hank was surprised at the fondness in the android’s voice. He hadn’t noticed how close the two androids had actually become over the few times they had hung out together, but he was happy that Connor was this happy.

“Sounds like quite the adventure. You had a lot of stuff to share last night then, right?”

“Yeah. We ended up sharing embarrassing and funny stories. Nines couldn’t stop blushing. I guess he became a little overwhelmed by all of it.” Connor chuckled a little. Hanks interest perked up at that.

“Embarrassing stories you say? Something I should know?”

The android grinned at him.

“So this is what this is about, huh?” Connor closed his eyes and folded his hands in his lap, a small hint of mischief in his eyes as he opened them again.

“How about you tell me a story first? After that I will tell you one of mine.”

“Oh you sneaky fucking piece of plastic.” Hank huffed. Connor let out a high laugh. This wasn’t at all where he had wanted this conversation to go. But upon hearing Connors laugh his heart was on the brink of melting again and Hank felt he had a hard time refusing the androids offer.

“Fine.” He grumbled finally. He could manage one story.

“You wanna know how we almost lost Sumo the exact same day that we bought him?” Hank asked the android, who was mustering him with high interested.

As if he had been summoned by Hanks words Sumo decided that it was a good time to jump on the couch, laying himself down between the two men in the optimal spot to receive the most pets from his owners. Connor dutifully began scratching Sumo’s ear, but his eyes were fixed on Hank.

“Well we got him when he still was a pup. And after bringing him home the first thing Cole wanted to do was play with him outside in the backyard.” Hank felt melancholic all of a sudden thinking back to the event. Thinking about his son didn’t bring that much hurt with it as it had just a week ago, but it sure still did leave a bitter taste in his mouth. Thankfully this story was very much dog-centered.

“I allowed him to do so if he promised to watch out very carefully. We didn’t have a complete fence around the thing back then.”

Hank watched as Connor comically rolled his eyes. “I can’t see where that could go wrong.”

Hank grinned. “Well yeah. Let’s just say Sumo didn’t feel to keen on staying where he was and Cole wasn’t exactly fast enough to be able to catch him. And our doggo here really liked the snow that was mounted up next to the street.” Hank ruffled through Sumo’s fur, the dog giving of a soft content wine.

“He dug holes into the snow heaps and there were so many of them by the time we realized what he was doing, that we had no idea where to even start looking for him. Cole climbed into some of the little caves Sumo had made but we couldn’t find him anywhere.” Hank made a dramatic pause, studying Connor who looked at him with a neutral expression.

“Cole had gotten pretty upset and started crying after an hour of searching. And I think that was what made Sumo decide to finally come back. But instead of walking around the snow the puppy decided to dig through one entire heap. The thing crumbled down on him just when he had gotten through. He got away from any worse damage, but he got buried in the snow anyways, just his snout and one ear sticking out.” Hank smiled at the memory of the sad little puppy frowning at him out of the snow, a little whine breaking vibrating through it. “We got him free of course. He didn’t run after that again.” Hank looked down at Sumo. The large dog had turned on his back, presenting his belly in an effort to get a few scratches.

“Weirdo still loves snow though. I have no idea why.”

Connor smiled at the dog, his free hand traveling down to rub circles into his chest.

“Well I would like whatever gave me my first pleasant experience with my family too.” Connor mumbled, his LED spinning a pleasant blue before it suddenly flashed yellow, Connor eyes widening as if he was realizing something. Hank quirked a brow at him.

“Are you alright?”

Connor snapped his head in Hanks direction. A bit of blue was covering his cheeks but before Hank could overthink it Connor had turned his gaze back upon Sumo, both of his hands now rubbing over the dog’s belly.

“Yes. I’m perfectly fine.” Connor said, but the man did pick up on the slight emotionless tone in his voice, as if Connor was very inefficiently trying to cover up a lie. He wished he had caught what the android had just said.

“Anyway…” Connor unnecessarily cleaned his throat, interrupting Hank before he could ask any questions, “I don’t think the story counts.” A sly grin replaced the awkward expression that had been on the androids face mere moments ago.

Hank was way to dumbfounded by the android’s statement to remember that he probably should have pressed the suspect.

“Hey. That’s no fair!” Hank managed to get out finally, Connor just openly laughing at him now, swiftly covering up whatever just happened.

“As cute and heartwarming as the story was, and as much as I appreciate you telling it to me Hank, I remember we agreed on embarrassing stories.” Hank stared at Connor with wide eyes.

“And as far as I can tell, there was nothing really embarrassing happening.”

Hank just gaped at the android. This sly little piece of plastic uncovering whatever little undeveloped plan he had had to avoid any harm to that small amount of pride he still had left. But his curiosity won over his self-preservation, the man shaking his head a little as he huffed in defeat.

“Alright, you got me. I’ll give you that one.” He tried to think of anything, that wouldn’t embarrass his stupid ass to much, going through past events in his mind until he remembered something, back from the days when he was just finishing college.

He looked back over at Connor, who was looking way to innocent, still petting Sumo. The guy was spoiling the dog even more than he ever had.

Hank sighed. He would give this point to Connor and hope the one he got in return would be worth it.

“Back in college I had a pretty unusual hobby.” The man muttered, Connor focusing all his attention on him immediately.

“Apparently I was pretty good at ice skating back then. And I liked to dance too” Images of their shared dance flashed before his eyes, but he pushed them away before he could get to caught up in them.

Connor looked at him expectantly, his head cocked to the side ever so slightly.<

“I combined it, dancing and ice skating. I visited some classes on figure skating and I pretty soon developed my own unique style of …something.” Hank paused. Saying it out loud made it sound really dumb suddenly. And he had been so proud back then, he remembered.

Connor had a wide grin on his face. “And?”

“I skated to heavy metal.” Hank felt his cheeks start to redden. Connors LED spun yellow again, probably processing or downloading information about this. That didn’t make this any better at all.

“Are there pictures of it?” Connor asked finally, making Hank cave into himself even more.

“Maybe. Some of my former classmates probably took some I don’t know. I would need to search for it.” He carefully left out the part in which his whole class had attended a local dance off and literally recorded a whole video of him twirling in pirouettes to the beat of `born to be wild´. He could be lucky that uploading stuff like that to the internet had not been too popular back then.

“This sounds like a lot of fun. Why did you stop?” Connor asked, his voice sounding oddly excited.

“I dunno. Lack of time and motivation.”

“You should try it again. There is an ice-skating hall only a few minutes from here.”

Hank made a sound that was somewhere between a laugh and a choke. “Why? I haven’t been on ice in the last 20 years. I don’t even know if I’m still able to even stand upright.”

Connor grinned at him almost madly, his eyes sparkling. The sight was somehow mesmerizing to Hank. “That’s even more of a reason to get you to try it out again!”

Connor jumped up from his seat, startling the half-asleep Sumo back awake. The dog huffed, throwing Hank an accusing look before jumping off the couch He almost jumped over to their shared calendar, looking at it just for the sake of making a show before he turned to Hank again, planting his hands on the man’s shoulders.

“We have time Monday afternoon. We’re off duty after 5 PM.” He stated. Hank couldn’t even respond in time before the android already marked the day as occupied.

He shook his head, silently resigning himself to the torture that was Connors energetic nature, before he remembered something.

“Hey!” He shouted, catching the android’s attention again. “It’s you’re turn to tell a story now.”

He watched as Connors LED again switched to a yellow light, before the android turned, his eyes falling onto Sumo who was positioning himself in front of the door, fully awake and very much demanding his walk now.

A cheeky smile grew on the android’s face. Hank honestly wondered when the guy would finally stop grinning so much, “I’m sorry lieutenant. It looks like someone is desperately waiting for a chance on a date with a certain golden retriever.”

Hanks eyes followed as Connor quickly made his way over to Sumo, connecting the leash to the dog’s collar in record speed.

He felt next to him for the nearest thing to throw at the android, grabbing one of the couch pillows.

“You fucking piece of plastic. Come back here!” He flung the pillow at Connor, who dodged it with ease, waving at him before swiftly closing the door behind him, a second pillow crashing into it and falling to the floor with a low thud.

Hank starred at the door in disbelieve. This did not at all go the way he had hoped. Fuck.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm kinda late in my sceduel here...Oh well...I will try to get back into it as fast as possible.  
> Enjoy this piece of fluff until then.


	16. A lovestory

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kara tugs Alice into bed and tells her a nice story

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the irregular posts, we are both havong a lot of stress. Don´t give up on us yet though XD

“But why can´t Christene come over on Tuesday?“

Kara helped Alice get into her pajama and patted on the pouting child’s head.

You know the golden rule, Alice, no meetups here on Tuesday! Luther and I have work then, so we can´t watch over you. But…”The girls´ head lifted as she looked up hopefully. “…maybe you can meet up at her place! I just texted Grace and she said she´d take care of you.”

Christene had been the first friend Alice made in Canada. They´d met in school and since tried to keep it up. Kara was very glad she already had a friend by now – she´d almost expected their integration to be harder so this was a welcome event.

Her little android jumped up and down in excitement and Kara struggled to tame her.

“Christine has a dog!!! She said it´s a poodle, which means it´s white and fluffy! Can we have a dog as well?”

Her mother chuckled delightfully. “I don´t think we are already ready for a pet like this.” She kneed down and caressed the other ones cheeks. “Dogs need a lot of time to be trained and loved. As of now we don’t have enough of it.”

Another pleading look melted her heart but she simply planted a small butterfly kiss on Alice’s forehead before pulling her into a loving hug. “I can´t promise anything for now, but maybe we can get one next year! If Luther agrees as well”.

“Where is he now? Why didn´t he bring me to bed today?”

“Because…” with a squeak Alice was lifted off the ground and found herself in Kara’s arms again “…I want you all for myself!” the mother called out and sprinted towards the small ones bed, the girl in her arms screaming with excitement. She then dropped her on the bed and grinned as her victim started laughing. “You think this is a joke? Beware, Alice! I will tickle you until you tell me, where the treasure is!”

“What? No, no, mooOOOOM-“ With this Kara started tickling her child’s sides and belly, Alice laughing and winding under her. After almost a minute of intense tickling and Alice throwi9ng a few pillows at her mom, she panted under her breath.

“I give up, I give up, heeEEELP!” “Where is the treasure, small one?!” “U-under the closet!”

With a triumphal battle cry the grown up let the child android go and pulled out a small book from under the closet. It was a Christmas story, Alice’s favorite. It was about two snowmen that fell in love and enjoyed the winter together.

Kara sat on the bed with Alice; the girl pulled a blanket over the two of them and cuddled into her arms.

The adult android opened the book and started reading the first few lines aloud:

__

__

There once was a man

__

His body was white

__

A stick to his left

__

A broom to his right.

__

White was his jacket

__

And white were his socks

__

He had some white trousers

__

And curly white locks.

__

White was his front

__

And white was his back

__

But on top of his head

__

He wore a hat, black.

__

One day when he woke up

__

He noticed a guest

__

A white little snowman

__

With a white little chest.

__

He had a green beanie

__

And a long shovel

__

He turned towards Karl,

__

Said his name was Pavel.

__

Both snowmen were happy

__

To meet one of their own

__

Cause if you´re with someone

__

You´re never alone!

__

Together they talked for long

__

Played with children hide and seek.

__

They laughed at snowball fights

__

And watched them run and squeak.

__

After weeks of playing

__

They stood there, side on side

__

And watched the sun retreading

__

Looked at the pinkish light.

__

“My friend, I gotta tell you…”

__

The snowman Karl explained

__

“While searching for ones friendship

__

Love is what I gained.

__

I love the way you laugh and

__

I love the way you grow

__

I love that I can trust you

__

To let me up when I feel low.

__

Little snowman, little friend

__

Do you love me too?

__

If not I´ll try to let it be

__

Though I don´t know what I´d do…”

__

“Don´t worry, my dear Karl!”

__

Is what Pavel answered quickly

__

“Since meeting you, dear friend

__

I´ve come to love you dearly!”

__

The two snowmen were happy

__

And enjoyed the winterland

__

And when the kids went home

__

They stood there, hand in hand.

__

As the summer came closer

__

The two of them grew tired.

__

They fell asleep together

__

While listening to a choir.

__

Now some of you may wonder

__

If they ever met again

__

You´ll find them arm in arm

__

The two white snowmen. 

__

_  
_

Luther couldn´t help but smile as he quietly entered the small bedroom. His family laid there, curled together and hugging each other tightly. The blanket had slid to the floor and Alice’s book fallen to the side. Both androids had shifted into their sleeping mode and had angelic smiles on their faces.

With warm and careful hands the man pulled the blanket over his two ladies and placed the book on Alice’s chair. Then he gave both the woman and the child a gentle kiss on the forehead and whispered:

“Sleep well. You´re safe and loved. I´ll take care of you.”

Then he quietly left the small room and closed the door quietly behind them.


	17. Skating time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hank and Connor visit the Skating hall. Hank really doesn't like it. At first

Hank was not happy.

He had tried everything he could think of to somehow get out of Connors plans. But the android had dodged every pillow thrown at him and had used every possible way to logic his way out of Hanks excuses and made up justifications.

In the end, even his own dog had betrayed him, leading the android directly to his old skating boots that he had hidden in his closet, a present he had never really used, but to nostalgic and nice to look at to throw away. Until now that was.

They were still practically brand new and, although a bit outdated, were deemed to work perfectly fine still by an overly smug android. And to make the ´miracle` complete they still fit him. Hank had seldomly cursed fate more then in that particular moment.

He had royally fucked up this time. He really just wanted to go home and drink a beer at this point. But one glance at the clock and at the android sitting opposite to him told him that that would not happen. Technically he could at least still get himself the beer. Although he would need to go on ice later. In less then an hour. To try and relearn how to skate. Yeah, beer was out of the picture for today’s afternoon.

Hank sighed. If there wasn’t magically a new case that decided to spawn out of nothing he had no choice but to get dragged to the fucking ice hall. He was way to old for this shit anyway. He was just there to make a fool out of himself and then leave again anyways.

He wouldn’t admit to himself that despite how much he hated the idea of this somewhere in his mind a little part of him was also getting really excited about this. Hank ignored it. He wouldn’t give Connor that bit of satisfaction. Not yet, anyways.

There had been no case randomly appearing. There had been no way to get a beer anymore. There had been no way to make a last-minute getaway. Hank was sitting in the car next to Connor. The android was driving, if only to stop Hank from just driving somewhere else. The man hadn’t even tried to protest and just succumbed to his fate.

A little spark of anxiety had sparked in his chest and was now steadily growing the closer Connor brought the both of them to the skating hall. Connor on the other hand seemed happier than ever, moving his head to the loud music that was blasting in the car and over all just radiating with barely contained energy and excitement.

Hanks dramatically hateful attitude faltered however, as soon as Connor parked the car in front of the hall, getting out of it and opening Hanks door, the man making no move to get out but effectively glaring at the large building in front of him.

“Hank please.” Connor pleaded impatiently. “You can regret your life choices as soon as we are inside.”

Against Hanks better judgement he finally left the car. Connor immediately pressed his skating boots into his hands.

“Let’s go.” The android stepped to the front door excitedly. Hank followed, reluctant, but he also didn’t want to be outside of the hall alone. That didn’t mean he wanted to be a part of this though.

As soon as he opened the door a gush of cold air greeted him.

“Shit, I forgot about that.” Hank grumbled under his breath, earning an amused glance from the android in front of him. Connor stepped up to a counter, where a female android was warmly greeting him, before both their LEDs began spinning yellow, exchanging data. Ten seconds later the android turned around, picking up a pair of skating boots and pushing them towards Connor, who accepted them with a polite thank you.

“Have fun you two!” The female android waved after Connor, Hank trailing after the android, all of a sudden feeling very lonely and vulnerable. The man eyed his surroundings.

There were a few people and androids already happily skating on the ice, some couples drifting over the surface hand in hand, a few teens having fun cutting corners and irritating people and a few smaller kids. Some of them looked like they were falling more then actually skating over the ice, but they all laughed in joy, even if they skidded into the railing in the process. A font smile tugged at the corner of Hanks cheeks, until he spotted that one dude, young guy, clothed barely appropriate for the cold air, slithering over the ice with inhuman speed, headphones locked in his ears, drifting around the others on the ice, performing little tricks whenever he could.

Hanks eyes followed him for a few seconds, realizing that he used to be that guy, way back then when he had been able to be proud about himself, before he looked away, his eyes settling on Connor who was currently sitting on a bench and beginning to change his shoes. Hank visibly slumped, shuffling over and sitting down next to the android, but unwilling to move or change into the skating boots. Connor looked at him, then he sighed, straightening his back and looking directly at the disgruntled unmotivated man next to him.

“Hank?” The android started. His beautiful brown eyes stared into Hanks, making the man unable to look away for a few seconds. Connor took a deep breath.

“I know you don’t particularly like my decision to go here. And I know that you aren’t happy being here. But I think you should at least give it a try.” The android smiled at him.

“It’s fun. And you shouldn’t judge things before you try them. Especially if you liked these things before and just didn’t do them for a long time. And if it is as awful as you think it is, we can leave again.”

Hank looked the android up and down once before giving in. He had told himself he wouldn’t do it. And that he wouldn’t do it especially to please Connor. And that he hated this idea. Which he did.

But his previous building anxiety was slowly morphing into nervous energy and as much as he wanted to ban the thought out of his head, he had felt quite nostalgic while watching the guy perfectly switch from gliding forward to sliding backwards with one swift motion. He used to love doing that.

“Fine.” Hank grumbled into his beard. “I’m still way too old for this.”

Connor threw him an amused look. “For claiming to be so old you surely act a lot like a moody teenager.”

Hank glared at the android. “Oh, fuck off!”

“Not until you put your boots on.”

“Yeah, yeah. Fucking cut me some slack ok?! I’m on it” Before the man could really protest any further, his boots had been secured expertly, the android pulling him towards the icy surface. That was, until something unsettling suddenly occurred to him.

“Hey wait.” Hank stopped in his tracks, prompting Connor to turn to him and eye him curiously.

“Why the fuck are you suddenly that confident in going out there? Did you download a program or something? Or is there any other cheat used here that I should know of?”

Connor actually snickered, looking at Hank almost as if this was the most natural thing ever.

“I researched some of the theoretical information. I do know that I need the practical experience to go along with it, but I’m certain that I will get the hang of this very soon.”

Before Hank had the chance to think any more about it, Connor had already pushed him inside of the wooden barricade that was surrounding the clear ice in the middle of the hall.

Hank felt his feet sliding forward without his input and instinctively reached out to his side, clutching the wooden railing and pulling himself up against it.

Connor pulled himself up next to him, his legs uncoordinated and wobbly under him.

“This certainly feels…different.” Connor muttered, looking like a deer learning how to walk for the first time as he pulled himself along the wooden wall. Hank watched him, not yet ready to move himself.

He had to admit, Connor looked like he had potential. The few memories he was able to pull back up, reference images teaching him the basics about skating and a good posture lined up with what Connor was obviously trying to do. But that didn’t change the fact that this was obviously his first actual try in real life.

Hank leaned back against the wooden wall, content on just watching Connor for a while.

Witch an all to brave move, Connor pushed himself away from the wall, trying to slide over the ice on his own. But as soon as the androids hand left the railing, his feet slipped out in front of him and Connor landed on his back with a low thud, his LED spinning yellow circles.

Hank couldn’t help but break out in laughter, clutching desperately onto every stationary surface he had to not suffer the same fate Connor had.

The android made a frustrated sound before he rolled over and got up with the help of the railing. He already looked a lot steadier on his feet, but his jacket was covered in little broken pieces of ice and his hair had lost some of its carefully maintained form. Hank still hadn’t stopped laughing, noticing the small pout forming on Connors face.

Without any form of further hesitation Connor pushed himself off the wall again, this time managing to slide a few meters ahead without falling.

Hank had to admit that he was impressed now. He knew that Connor was an android, but that he could adapt to something this quickly still surprised him a lot.

The human decided to pull himself a bit further along on the railings to a spot where he could watch Connor better.

The android was now on the other side of the ice already, slowly but steadily finding his footing on the slippery surface and managing to move along quite nicely already.

If only it would be that easy for Hank too. But Hank at this moment was content to watch Connor, the smooth flowing and connecting movements Connor had to perform in order to slide over the ice was nothing short of pleasing to Hanks eyes. By the time Connor was standing next to Hank again his amused smile had turned into a pleasant warm one. Connor returned it, making Hank finally aware of his surroundings again.

“It’s you’re turn now.” Connor said, gently laying his hands on Hanks back and pressuring him to move forward.

“Hey stop that. At least let me do this in my own pace!” Hank grumbled his hands still firmly planted on the wooden barricade beside him.

“As you wish. But you should at least try to move forward.” Connor suggested, a grin on his face before he slid past him, stopping a quarter of a way around the ice and waiting for Hank expectantly.

The man tried to remember all the tips and tricks he had learned back in the day, desperate to not make the same mistake as Connor and fall over. He tried to plant his feet firmly on the ice but kept his knees flexible. God. What else did he used to do? How the fuck did this work? Why was he here again?

Hank pushed himself forward with one foot, his hands still firmly planted on the wooden riling beside him, making his way to the android slowly.

“You’re getting the hang of it.” Connor said as he finally reached the android that had a grin on his face.

“Yeah, yeah.” Hank waved him off. He didn’t want to admit it to Connor yet, but this certainly was fun. He had missed this. It was almost sad that he had lost so much of his skill by now. The smoothness of the ice under his boots actually felt nice and his feet were already adjusting to the new rhythms and routines he was forcing them to do.

“This will take a while. You go and do whatever androids do while ice skating.” Hank repositioned himself, one hand still on the wood, the other balancing his other side out.

“I will test out some other steps and train my new skills a bit.” Connor offered, turning to leave Hank to himself for a while. “I will catch up to you in a few minutes again.” And with that the android pushed himself forward again, his movements showing even more graze and flow to them the longer Hank starred at him.

The man shook his head, focusing onto his own feet, before pushing forward as well, shakily completing his first lap around the ice.

He tried to ignore the other people around him as he slowly but steadily found his rhythm again, able to let go of the supporting wood without falling and successfully finishing his laps around the ice.

About 20 minutes later Connor returned, smiling at the lieutenants already pretty confident posture in which he slid over the ice, almost as smooth in his movements as the android.

“You’re doing better than I expected.” Connor told him, a fond expression on his face.

Hank snickered. “Better than expected, huh? Well you did surprisingly bad on your first turn compared to my expectations.”

Hank didn’t miss the slight blue color that was dancing over Connors face for a second before the android caught his composure again.

“It certainly didn’t keep me from doing this.” Connor simply stated, performing a slow curve and a spin, ending on a few meters drifted backwards before the android caught himself against the wooden wall behind him.

A challenging glint was in his eyes.

“Showoff.” Was all that Hank commented on it, before he stooped next to the android. As Connor slid off again, seemingly practicing his new move, Hank tried to think of the tricks he had performed once.

It turned out that the guy, who was still speeding over the ice with an alarming lack off care for the world and the people surrounding him served as a pretty good inspiration for Hank.

He had no idea why he had suddenly become this competitive against the android. He honestly hadn’t been convinced he would even be on the ice for this long. But here he was, secretly practicing some of his old spins, having the time of his life. Really, he should have done this earlier again. But just being here, trying to find his way back with Connor made him so much happier. The android really really knew how to make a guy happy.

A quickly approaching body ripped Hank out of his thoughts and practice. Without the time to react, he collided with the body I front of him, both falling to the floor in a huddled mess of heavy limbs.

“I’m very sorry Hank.” Connor apologized from beside his head and Hank suddenly realized who he was involuntarily hugging right now. He scrambled back, freeing his arms and chest from Connor, starring at the android’s face in disbelieve.

“Somebody went past me to fast and close and I could regain my footing to slow down in time.” Connor went on, carefully untangling their legs and then standing, helping Hank up in the progress as well.

Just as Hank was about to open his mouth to say something, someone zipped past them, an unseen force pushing Connor into Hank, both sliding into the wooden wall behind them, Connor again involuntarily pressed against his chest.

Before Hank could even process what had just happened, Connor had already pushed himself away from him, his face flushed blue, apologizing again. Hank just nodded and watched the android drift away from him, his hand rubbing the back of his neck.

Hank didn’t need a mirror to know his own cheeks had to be flushed red as well. Because even for as short and unplanned as the hug was… He hadn’t minded it at all. And he would have liked for it to go on

__________________________________________________

Connor leaned against the wooden railings, watching Hank making his rounds, sometimes changing up his steps or performing a sharp turn, once or twice even a little subtle twirl as he moved over the ice.

It was nice, watching his human and knowing he had made a good decision by bringing him here. Hank looked genuinely happy and excited, although exhaustion also clearly was visible on his face after spending almost two hours on the ice now.

But as much as he loved watching him, he couldn’t shake off the memory of the little… incident they had. He hadn’t meant to full on embrace Hank after the subtle push from behind had shoved him forward, but his body had moved out of reflex. Not that he hadn’t enjoyed it, but the way Hank had looked at him afterwards was still unsettling for him. He couldn’t tell if the red cheeks had been there because of the cold or because he had been blushing and he had been otherwise to startled to really pick up on any other signs.

He could slap himself now for not doing anything. Or staying to see the human’s reaction.

Instead he was standing here, watching Hank slowly approach him, skidding to a halt in front of him.

“I know you androids don’t get tired and all, but I would really appreciate if we could leave soon. My hands are starting to freeze of.” Hank offered. Connor blinked at him, a sudden idea popping up in his head.

“We can leave as soon as you want Hank.” He answered, words calculated carefully. “But may I request one more thing before we do so.”

Hank rolled his shoulders. “Shoot.”

“Can you try and do a pirouette for me?”

Hank starred at him, a testing look in his eyes. “Now why would I do that?”

“I saw you practicing one earlier and I really just would like to see what the actual version looks like.” Connor stated. It was the truth. He had never seen a human accurately pull off a pirouette on ice. At least not in real life.

Hank seemed to stare right through the android for a few more seconds, before he caved in and grumbled: “Fine I’ll do it. But you better pay fucking attention I’m only doing this once.”

Connor took that sentence as an invitation, beginning to record the moment just then, engraving the data into his memory.

Hank slid over to a mostly free space in the middle of the ice, turning a small lap before using his acceleration to spin around himself, arms raised and stretched out slightly, his legs first moving together in an X and then swiftly twirling outwards again, slowing his motion and letting him come to a stop without falling.

“That looked really awesome.” Connor stated as Hank slowly toddled his way back over to his normal shoes.

“Thanks….”” Hank trailed off, looking in the far distance for a few seconds before settling his gaze upon the android again. “I actually had a lot of fun doing this. I enjoyed being back.”

Connor smiled at him, satisfied his plan worked and happy the man was being honest to him.

“We should do it again then.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I stole the basic idea of Hank having ice skated back when he was young from a picture I saw a long time ago. Sadly I haven't found it again until now and I can't remember the name of the artist.  
> Also I have absolutely no idea how skating works. I'm so sorry.


	18. Gavin and the ice...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gavin makes another mistake and Nines needs to help him again...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh Gavin, you stupid little dude.... why you do this to me?

If there was one thing Gavin hated the most it was not being taken seriously. But this time he had to admit that it was his own fault.

He finally had had the chance to leave the office without Nines following him everywhere. Apparently his partner had been assigned to something he didn´t want to talk about? It was supposed to be a test or something like that if he got it right…

Anyway, because Tina’s partner got sick and his android gone for a day they decided to simply team up. It wasn´t the first time, they had worked together a few times already and even though they often distracted each other from their work they did well.

On top of their personal decision, Mason and Joe, two other detectives joined them as well. They had been assigned to confront a man in Dearborn about a murder that had happened a while ago. Due to safety reasons Fowler seemed to insist that they went in a group of four, which provoked Gavin in a way.

Now, together they had just questioned the person of interest, got out some decent information and walked through the snowy streets as Tina dug up something new again.

“Did you expect Dearborn to be this snowy, Gav?”

He sent her a glare but simply answered: “Fuck no, I thought Detroit was the only place where the atmosphere is cold enough that things like this can happen!” He kicked a pile of snow and enjoyed the way the small flakes crumbled under his feet.

Mason chuckled and added: “Well, when you and your android are in the same room it surely is. No wonder the heating system died on us!”

“Are you blaming ME for that?!” Gavin bit back.

Joe simply shook his head and rubbed his hands together. “It´s so cold, I bet we´ll freeze before getting to the office…”

“Oh come on, pussy, I´ve faced worth!”

“Literally!” snorted Tina and earned a growl but she ignored it. “Like, could you taste the ice? How does it taste like? Cigarettes?"

“Better than your mom anyway!” Gavin laughed and kicked another pile of snow.

“You know what? I feel like doing something fun today” Tina beamed. That already didn´t sound good at all but her friend was in. “Like what?” he asked.

“Let´s see who can stand the cold longer!”

“What…?” Mason asked confused, but Gavin caught on quickly and glared at the woman again who just continued:

“I bet you don´t dare taste the ice again, Gav…”

“I will not hit the floor, Tina!!”

She giggled “I don´t mean it like that, dumbass!” All three men watched her walk towards an old metallic street sign and breathed on its surface so that the ice partially melted and all that was left were water stains.

“I bet you won´t be able to stand this pole longer than ten seconds, detective asshole!”

“Oh, but you would?”

“Of course!” Tina sounded so determined, Gavin felt the strong urge to prove her otherwise.

“Wait, you´re gonna lick it?” Joe pursed his lips at the thought. “Please tell me you aren´t that stupid…”

Gavin ignored the other man and snorted gleefully: “You serious?! If I remember correctly, yesterday you bitched and moaned about how much you hated this weather!”

“At least it doesn´t hate **me** though!” She chuckled at his at his look but already stood closer to the sign and nodded towards him. “You up to it or not?”

Mason gave him a reassuring clap on the shoulder and shoved him towards her, saying: “Don´t worry, mate, we´ve got your back and will watch over you!”

Joe simply watched Tina melting the ice with her breath. “And what are you doing?”

“By melting the ice it may hurt less.” She winked at him and stretched herself” You ready, Mr. Hit-The-Dance-Floor-Literally?”

“You bet I am, Mrs. I-am-going-to-regret-this!” the detective hissed out, wetting his lips nervously.

Mason started the countdown while his partner face palmed. “Three; Two; One; GO!”

The melted ice was cold. Of course it was. But it was FUCKING cold!!! Gavin felt his tongue slowly getting numb but held on. Somewhere behind Tina, who stood there with a pained expression, he heard Mason counting on…

“Four; Five; Six;…” Four more seconds, he told himself but already felt the stinging pain on his tongue that went from bad to worse to a lot of curse words. Gavin shut his eyes tightly and concentrated on the pleasant thought of Tina having to admit that he actually had the guts to do these kinds of things… though he didn´t know what to call them yet.

“Eight; Nine; Ten! God, Gavin, you alright?” The man opened his eyes triumphantly, only to see that Tina really had given up earlier. She stood there, massaging her tongue and looking dissatisfied.

The detective wanted to pull off and tell her how pathetic it was to loose his own challenge. He really did. But instead he realized that he couldn´t pull off at all… it was way to much pain.

“-ina! That the hell…!” he managed to get out and his challenger started cackling madly. “Y-you should see yourself, Gav! Y-you-“

With a panicking exclamation he realized that his tongue was frozen to the metal pole in front of him. Tina must´ve realized the danger early enough to pull off in time.

“You can… You can stop now, Gav!” Tina continued. “Congratulations you won the… challenge! I shall admit that you really must like the taste of ice.” She wept

“Geth me outh!” The man tried to breathe on the ice again but it didn´t really help… at all. So he simply gave her the finger and pouted, hoping for their help.

“You know what? Now that you are busy, the three of us…” Tina laid her arms around the backs of the two men next to her “…can finally have some fun together, what do you guys say?”

Instead of waiting for an answer she pulled them with her. Gavin’s loud protest made her raise a hand and calling back: “Don´t worry, I´ll text Nines, he should be here any minute!”

That made Gavin’s whines even more desperate but all he could do was watch his colleagues walk off, Tina cheerful, Mason looking back with a guilty look in the eyes and Joe resting his hand on Tina’s hip, obviously hoping for more than what he´d probably get.

Now Gavin was waiting alone. At first he hoped for random people passing by and helping him but the longer he waited the less he wanted the people to notice the humiliation he had put himself in. A cursing, whining detective, helpless with his tongue stuck to an old street sign. What the fuck. Why was he always so stupid and short tempered? That sounded as stupid as it felt like. Tina would regret this on so many levels as soon as he was free.

After only about five minutes he saw a familiar black car drive by and even though he couldn´t see it as it parked out of his sight, he knew those heavy yet oddly quiet steps that quickly came closer.

He didn´t want this. Out of all the people he didn´t want to see him like this, Nines was the number one. That’s why he already glared at the android before he even came in sight but didn´t say a word, knowing it would only sound as pathetic as he felt.

He immediately spotted the most amused and satisfied expression on Nines face and tried to look as calm and proud as… someone whose tongue was connected to a pole could look like.

Nines looked oddly happy since his meeting with Connor, an unusual look on the stiff androids face. Instead of helping him, his partner stood in front of the detective and observed the man with so much amusement that Gavin felt another rush of embarrassment.

The detective simply glared up and showed his middle finger again, earning a chuckle from the other one.

“I honestly never imagined finding you on a pole like this, Gavin!” The human wanted to scold the other one for using his first name but all that came out was a muttered “Ah came aaaan…!”

“Did Officer Tina put you up to this?”

“Wha elthe?! Naw helph me auth here!”

“Hmmm…” Nines tilted his head to the side before answering. “I´d prefer not to.”

“WHA-?!” Gavin groaned defeated as his partner continued:

“After all, I´m still just a piece of plastic, am I not?”

Shit, was that dude still mad because of that one argument were he went over the line . He had been pretty sure Nines would be over this by now.

“Thaak, I´m tharry abauth thath!” he got out before screaking: “NAW PLEATHE HELPH ME!!!”

Nines stepped closer and they looked at each other. Their casual tension seemed exhausted with Gavin in tired pain and Nines seeming lost in observing. The detective had to crane his head a bit to remain eye contact and looked up cockily.

But as the bigger one bowed down a bit and came face to face with him he got nervous. What the hell was he doing now? Then he twitched as Nines breathed out and warm air brushed over his own cold skin. He shivered a bit at the next blow but felt a wave of relief as his tongue already gave way bit by bit. While waiting for the connection to comfortably break, the human caught a scent that stuck with him. He remembered it from Nines white jacket – it was the androids smell, a mix of something sweet and evenly comforting he couldn´t quite describe at the moment…

Was this a smell only Nines owned? The human never sniffed at other androids before, because seriously, why would he?!

A swift movement brought him back into the present. One of Nines big hands rose up and massaged Gavin’s tongue shortly before then pulling it off the icy metal quickly.

“!!!!!” The smaller one jumped back fast and started to hump up on the street while cursing loudly. One hand covered his mouth the other clawed into his leg.

After calming down a bit he turned towards Nines and wanted to scream at his partner for being so rough but kept silent as he watched the other one snicker. He bit his lips and ignored the heat that rushed into his cheeks. That guy looked to fucking happy. Something inside of him clicked and he went into the motion of a very very slow face palm.

“What the hell…” he muttered, his tongue still a bit numb. To avoid Nines questioning look the man turned around and stepped towards the car.

“Come on, Nines!” he called his partner. “I have enough of this place. Fucking Tina already screwed up my day…”

On their way back Gavin started questioning himself. Wasn´t it ironic that he could already trust this android more than an old colleague? He defiantly was more relaxed and open with her than with him, but being with Nines was more… exciting. More diverse. More interesting. And much more… Nines.


End file.
